Don't Say A Thing
by Twice Scared
Summary: MWPP TIMES. Define fluff, read this and see how close fluff really comes. No slash (coz we hatses it!) Just good old MWPP fun and the like... with a few extras.
1. Trains Can Be Evil

AUTHORS NOTE: Hello there! So people are actually READING this are they? Hmmz, I'll warn you now - this has very little in the way of a plot. I'll just explain it to you. My name is Sarah, and my counter part is Sophie. We've both written this little piece of chicken pie here. I write some, then e-mail it to Sophie, she writes some, etc. So really we have no idea what the other is going to write. Isn't that nice? Oh, yes. We own absolutely nothing. Blame it on those damn plot bunnies.  
  
Sierra POV.  
  
Sierra Rehine was sitting on her trunk sulking. Her two older brothers (who were supposed to be helping her board the school train) had completely disappeared. Well, she could see Justin. He was flirting with some blonde muggle by the ticket booth. The girl was giggling and stroking his arm. Right, time to break this up then. She stood up of her trunk and walked over to Justin. "Where's Trista?" Sierra said in a sickly-sweet voice. The blonde glared at her and walked off. Justin looked extraordinarily disappointed. "Oh come on Justin! She had about as many brains as a Hinkypunk." "Yeah, but even still. I don't get to chase girls every day." "Oh yeah that's right," said Sierra sarcastically "dear Justin never, ever spends his precious time chasing after mere muggle girls." She snorted and turned around, walking back to her trunk and sitting on it with a small 'plunk'. Justin followed after her and sat down. It wasn't long before a beaming twenty-four year old walked over swinging a set of keys round his finger. "What took you so long Tristan?" Sierra and Justin stood up, Sierra barely coming up to the boy's chests. "Well it seems to me lil sis, that muggles have a strong urge to make things much smaller than needed." "So in other words you couldn't find a car park?" Justin grinned "You know you could always just say it outright" "What's the fun in that though?" "Well it could save me one hell of a lot of brain cells." "Something that we all know you're lacking." "Please you two!" Sierra interrupted them, rolling her eyes. "How old are you two again? Now in case you forgot I have to get to a certain school train and if you don't hurry up I'll be late." Sierra promptly turned away from them, picked up her school trunk and dragged it off. As much as she loved her two elder brothers, they were hell to put up with for long. The problem was they were just too different. Thirteen-year-old Sierra was a perfectionist at heart; she had been the ice-queen of her previous primary school. Often coming top in class she hated any attention whatsoever, especially that of the male gender. However twenty-year-old Justin and the slightly older Tristan were the epitome of all males. There was nothing on earth that they hadn't poked fun at. At least once anyway. The trio casually walked through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters. Sierra had to hold back a gasp, it was truly more wonderful than she had dreamed. All around her were students of various ages with trunks and the odd owl. Everywhere was a hustle and bustle as people jostled to get over to friends or family. Tristan beamed at her. "Just as I remember. Well you better get on soon, try and get the compartment third from the back on the left side." Sierra looked sceptical. "And I'm guessing that there's a reason for this." "Course there is!" "And that would be." Tristan and Justin started laughing. After a good few minutes Justin had calmed down enough to tell her to take a look under the seats and see if the words 'Carpe Scrotum' were still etched there Sierra rolled her eyes and whacked him on the arm. "Ow! That hurt!" "Now anyway Si, don't you go and be too good." "Yeah, don't send us any letters until you've done something really naughty that will drive McGonagall completely up the wall" Sierra decided that this was the right time for a bit of punishment. "Ow! Jeez Si, you sure can pack a punch when you want to." "Course I can my dear Tristan. Now will you please be serious for once?" The two boys sighed and looked rather resigned. "Ok then, if you insist." Tristan leaned down and hugged his sister. "Danni's going to miss you heaps, she got all upset this morning. Started crying and everything." Danielle was Tristan's girlfriend. They'd been together ever since he had graduated from Hogwarts, and they all considered her part of the family. She was like a mother to Sierra. When the letter accepting Sierra to Hogwarts came Justin and Tristan had preferred to teach her tricks that would no doubt help make quite a bit of trouble, however Danielle had thought it best to teach Sierra charms that were more 'ladylike'. After both Tristan and Justin had finished making sure that she had everything (including the broomstick that Justin had insisted she smuggle in - much to the protests of Danielle and Sierra) they looked at her with a very serious tone in their eyes. "Now for the important bit." Said Tristan "Don't go near the old hump- backed witch with the one eye on the third floor corridor" "Yeah, and if you do don't tap it with your wand and say 'Dissendium'" "Very wise Justin, and if you do accidentally happen to do that you mustn't go down the secret passageway that leads to the cellar of Honeydukes" "Oh yes Tristan, very very important not to do that. Especially if me, you or Danielle happen to be waiting in the three broomsticks." Sierra rolled her eyes "I'm not going to be doing anything like that anyway! I honestly don't know why you're even telling me this." "Because it is very useful information." "Yeah, and after all your our sister. You have to have at least one bad bone in your body." "Now do you remember all that highly important information that we told you about old Hoggy Warty?" Sierra scoffed, "What all that rubbish about how the Astronomy tower is the best place for a night time snog?" Justin and Tristan looked at each other proudly. "You really are my little sister Si." "Yeah well I'm not going to be doing stuff like that anyway." "Whatever, you better get a move on. Have you got that book Danni gave you?" "The one about dark creatures?" "Yeah that huge one she thought you'd be interested in." "Yep. Got that. Thank her again by the way I had a skim through it this morning its really good." "Ok then, I guess I'll be seeing you!" "Bye Si!" Sierra grinned and waved as she pulled her heavy trunk towards the door to the last carriage. She would have said goodbye but she couldn't really trust herself to speak. When she reached the carriage doors she turned around and began to heave the trunk up the stairs. It was easier said than done really as the trunk was weighed down by various books that Sierra couldn't bear to part with. "Oh bloody hell," she muttered, pulling on the trunk again. It didn't seem to want to move at all. She was so preoccupied with her trunk that she didn't notice the two boys come up behind her. "Would you like some help with that?" Sierra turned around and glared at the speaker, a good-looking boy with long-ish black hair.  
  
"No." she said coldly. She turned back to her trunk, gave it one last heave (in which it finally managed to come free) and stalked past the speaker and another extremely arrogant looking boy, also with extraordinarily messy black hair. She could vaguely hear the other boy mutter 'Feisty' as she walked past, but she really couldn't be sure. After a moment of searching Sierra found the compartment that Tristan and Justin had pointed out to her and after another moment of searching found the words 'Carpe Scrotum' etched into the wood under the seat on the right (along with various other etchings which she didn't recognize). She took out the large book that Danielle had given to her and started reading it with interest. She had got up to about the third chapter when two heads poked around the door. "Hello!" Chorused the two heads. "Uh, hi." Sierra didn't really want to be interrupted but the girls seemed to take the greeting as a sign of friendship and entered the compartment, dumping their things across from where Sierra was perched beside the window. The two dirty-blonde girls were tall and a bit on the skinny side. One was a bit taller than the other but apart from that they were absolutely identical. "You starting Hogwarts this year too?" asked the shorter girl. Sierra was to taken aback to do anything other than nod her head. The girl beamed at her. "I'm Stephanie by the way, and that's my twin Cara-Jane." Cara-Jane gave Stephanie a smouldering look. "Please whatever you do don't call me Cara-Jane. Two of the most idiotic names in existence and they just happen to be my name." The girl sat down beside Sierra while Stephanie moved their trunks along a bit and sat down opposite to her. Cara-Jane continued her little speech. "We think Mum must have been a bit drowsy when she named us. Anyway just call me CJ. Its much easier to remember." "And just call me Steph." The two girls smiled at Sierra and she couldn't help but smile back. "I'm Sierra." "Nice name, is that Spanish?" asked Steph "I honestly have no idea." "Sounds like it," said CJ, fiddling with a string coming loose on the hem of her robes "Its really pretty anyway. Reminds me of the ocean." It wasn't long until the three girls were talking animatedly about Quidditch and the like when a strawberry blonde haired girl stepped lightly into the compartment.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Iseult opened the door and stepped in, her suitcase in tow. Flicking her hair out behind her, she pulled her suitcase into the middle of the room. Three girls about her age were sitting on one of the leather-covered benches in the carriage, admiring a broomstick that a pretty brown-haired girl was stroking fondly. Iseult gulped slightly; she was not the most confident teenager on the planet. She was just mustering up her courage to say hello when. "Hi" said the tallest mousey blonde girl, grinning from ear to ear. A girl who must have been her twin also beamed at Iseult warmly, making the extremely nervous newcomer seem slightly more welcomed. Iseult smiled. "Hey, I'm Iseult, and you are." Grinning even more at Iseult's smile, the girl who had spoken before said, "I'm Steph and this is." "CJ" said Steph's sister, glaring at her sister. Obviously CJ's real name was particularly bad, as the twins sank into a sort-of glaring competition. Iseult raised her eyebrows but left them to themselves Sitting down on the bench opposite the other three girls, Iseult looked over the twin's heads and out the window, only to see that the train had just started moving and families and friends were waving hysterically at their kin. The only student in the otherwise empty carriage who had not bombarded her with smiles was the brown haired girl, who had now put her broom to the side and was absorbed in a book. Feeling a connection with this quiet girl, Iseult was just about to ask her what she was reading when four boys stampeded into the carriage. The girl so intent on her book looked up for a second, then blushed slightly and pulled the volume up to cover her face. Iseult smirked, and looked up to see that all four boys were holding wands and peering around the room. "What do you want?" said CJ, who Iseult could now tell was the shorter of the two identical sisters. The boys jumped ever so slightly, evidently so intent on their search that they had not realized that there were girls in the carriage. Two of the boys, obviously the group's ringleaders, slunk their wands into their coats and put their hands in their pockets. The taller of the two drew his hand back through his hair, making it stick out messily. Oh God, thought Iseult. These two were obviously THAT sort of boys. Evidently some things never change no matter what school you are at. She could tell CJ was thinking the same thing, her eyebrows were raised and she was frowning slightly. Steph looked a bit more interested in them, and the brunette girl, (did it say Serra on her trunk?) obviously knew one of them from somewhere, because she had determinedly stuck her nose even further into her book. The dickheads in question however, evidently had not noticed any of this, because they just continued looking smug. Iseult tried, but failed not to notice that they were extremely good looking. From the looks on their faces, they knew it too. One of them, a guy with long, almost sleek black hair and dark eyes grinned mischievously. "Have any of you girls noticed a really ugly, really pasty, really greasy faced guy." "With greasy hair, crooked runny nose and no friends.?" broke in the other boy, flashing a smile at his audience. Serra (if that was her name) sat up slowly and looked at the four boys; pursing her lips, she lifted her chin and looked at them piercingly. At this point CJ started laughing hysterically, then the laugh quickly became a cough, and at last her laughing spasm had finished. Everyone ignored her more or less because they were intent on listening for Serra's reaction to the boy's cruel statement. "No." she said quite forcefully. The longhaired boy looked at her and his eyes widened in recognition, but Iseult saw, and before he could open his mouth she said, "I saw a pale guy in the 2nd carriage a while ago." She gave them all a look that said, "Get Out or you will feel the full force of our hate" (Ok maybe it wasn't quite that strong a look but hey,) and the boys, who didn't look much older than them at all, unwillingly shuffled out through the door. Before he left the messy haired boy nodded his head to Serra and the twins, and mouthed the words "thank you" at Iseult, a puzzled look on his face. He then swept into the next carriage and shut the door behind him. Iseult laughed quietly to herself. She had a feeling she knew why he looked so puzzled and confused. He couldn't figure out why his "dazzling charms" hadn't worked on any of the girls yet. (He obviously hadn't noticed Steph.) Iseult smiled. If those boys thought that they were that great, they had another thing coming.  
  
A bright peal of laughter echoed through the carriage. CJ was chuckling loudly, and Iseult couldn't help grinning. "Those four are such idiots!" CJ squeaked. "The guy they were going on about peered into the carriage while they were in here! I could hardly stop myself from bursting out laughing! I really hope that he learns a good hex and gets wind of what those guys were saying about him!" Steph frowned. "You're such a boy-shadow sis." Giggled CJ at the expression on her face. "Oh, I-zolte? Is that how you say it?" Iseult nodded. "I forgot to introduce you to Sierra. She's new too, like us." CJ furrowed her arched eyebrows. "You are new this year, aren't you?" Iseult and Sierra (Iseult could see the thin line of an 'I' on her trunk now) both nodded and said, rather too enthusiastically, "Yes!" at the same time. Everybody smiled. "Ok, so I suppose we don't really know each other much yet." She saw Iseult's puzzled face. "Oh yeah, we only met Sierra here about two minutes before you came in." "Maybe three minutes." Said Steph. Iseult rolled her eyes. She had never known two sisters to fight so pettily! Steph must have sensed her feeling, because she said pointedly, "Do you have any terrifying siblings, Iceult, or is CJ the worst of the worst?" CJ poked her tongue out at Steph, but Iseult continued; "Its said like Eye-zolt, not Ice-olt, and no, CJ is not the worst sibling ever, although you two do bicker!" "Thanks," said CJ, sounding rather hurt. "I have two younger sisters, Ysabeau and Gwin, short for Guinevere, who are seven and twins as well, like you two, although less identical, and I have an 18-year-old brother.No! Steph! Don't look at me that way, that's how all my muggle friends look at me when I talk about Olive!" "Oh, his names Olivier." She added on sight of their questioning expressions. (ooc: pronounced Oliviae) CJ nodded and turned to Sierra. "And you Sierra, I saw you waving at a guy on the platform, who was he?" Iseult looked a bit disappointed that they had broken off her chance to tell her family history, but she pulled her suitcase nearer to the bench and sat on top of it to listen to Sierra. "Yeah, you've been awfully quiet," said Iseult good-humouredly, grinning at Sierra, who had finally put her book away and was ready to talk.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Sierra reluctantly put her book back into her trunk and turned to Iseult, who was now sitting across from her and next to CJ and Steph. "Well, I was escorted here by my two brothers," Steph sat up taller at this "They both went to Hogwarts when they were younger, which is why they wanted me to transfer this year." "Where did you go before Hogwarts?" said CJ interestedly. "Tora Academy." "Never heard of that one, I thought you might have gone to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang." Sierra shook her head. "Yeah, you wouldn't have heard of it - it's quite a small school." Steph laughed, "Hogwarts is anything but small, even Professor Dumbledore doesn't know where all the rooms are!" Sierra knew that Professor Dumbledore was the headmaster of Hogwarts from what Tristan had told her years ago. CJ nodded and turned back to Sierra. "So what are your brothers called?" "Tristan and Justin. Tristan's twenty four and Justin's twenty." "Cool," said Steph "Do you have any sisters?" "No, but Tristan's girlfriend, Danielle is kind of like a sister." Sierra turned to Iseult but before she could say anything the dark haired boys came back into the carrage. Damn, thought Sierra, Why did I put that ruddy book away? The one with longish hair that had offered to help her with her trunk before beamed at the girls. "Hello there ladies! Sorry to intrude but the compartment we were.inhabiting before seems to have been taken over by a bunch of Slytherin swines."  
  
Is it just me or is Steph swooning?  
  
"Although I must say Padfoot, I've never seen Snape look so good in pink" the boys snickered and Sierra got the fleeting impression of a younger Justin and Tristan. At this point Sierra noticed that Iseult had slotted her wand in her jeans pocket and was trying to get past the blockade of boys standing by the door. The messy-haired boy seemed very unwilling to let her pass, and the longhaired one was too busy perfecting his "effortless" fringe to notice her. In the end Iseult said "Excuse Me!" loudly to a skinny blonde boy who was reading a book on transfiguration (Sierra was impressed, she didn't think any of these guys would have the intelligence to read,) and this boy smiled at her and moved aside. Iseult slipped through the gap quickly, and for a second Sierra heard rain on the roof through the open door. The messy haired boy glared at the slamming door, and kicked the blonde boy hard in the shins. The racket following this soon subsided, to be replaced with a stunned silence in the compartment. "So anyway," the first boy continued, trying to bridge the silence. "We thought we could sit with you." Sierra narrowed her eyes and was about to say something cutting before Steph grinned and said, "Oh sure! I mean we'd love to have some company!" Apparently Sierra wasn't the only one who was less than happy at this intrusion as CJ rolled her eyes and kicked Steph in the shin ('Ow! B?tch!') and Sierra was pretty sure Iseult would be bloody pissed off if she was there. However the first boy grinned again and sat down beside Sierra, who promptly stood up and sat next to CJ. Whom she was sure was better company anyway. The boy looked a bit hurt but covered it up quickly as the others sat down and introduced themselves as 'Sirius Black, (the long-haired one with the 'naturally' seductive fringe) James Potter, (the messy-haired arrogant one who kicked Remus) Remus Lupin (the blonde one who was at least polite and literate) and Peter Pettigrew (the pale one with dirty coloured hair and a pinched face).' The conversation that followed was one between Steph and the boys, CJ and Sierra refusing to partake and were instead looking pointedly the other way. This continued on for a while until a large CRASH as the window jumped upwards of it's own accord made them all jump, Peter more than anyone. It had stopped raining, Sierra noted. Even more strange than this was that Iseult's suitcase was unzipping itself of it's own accord, and Iseult's uniform seemed to be removing itself from the bag and flying out the window to the back of the train. The window slammed back down with a loud thud, and the suitcase zipped itself back up. This stunned everybody, as even in the wizarding world it is not common for clothes to wander off of their own accord. Since nobody really knew how to fill the silence after that, the boys decided to leave; making it clear that the only reason they were there in the first place was to chat up girls. Steph, however was very unwilling for Black to go, and she insisted that he have a discussion with her about Quidditch. This suited him fine, so he said goodbye to the rest of his band and started an animated discussion with Steph about the Winbourne Wasps. CJ and Sierra groaned inside their heads and mentally kicked Stephanie a thousand times.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
Iseult slipped out of the carriage, the door slamming behind her. The train would arrive in an hour or so and she wanted to put on her robes before they got there, not to mention get away from the boys Steph was undoubtedly chatting up in her compartment. She watched the door slam behind her and turned to see the countryside rushing past the train. It was raining. Ignoring the giddying blur of grey and green flashing past her, Iseult pushed head forward through a sheet of wind-blown rain that had been blown underneath the overhanging roof, which was all the protection from the elements that was provided in the narrow outside corridor of the Hogwarts express. She surged through the wall of unusually strong rain onto the compartment bridge. Outside of the carriage compartment Iseult was in the open air, with only an overhanging roof and iron barriers to make the divider between the carriages anything more than a metal bridge between the two compartments. How the food carriage could cross this perilous straight was beyond Iseult, but she dared not stay and ponder for fear of almost drowning! She was already soaked through to her jumper, her overcoat was sopping, and only after half a minute of being in the rain. Iseult hastily crossed the bridge and opened the door into a warm dry carriage. The first student she saw was a girl who was peering at her down her nose. Iseult had the impression that she resembled a wet dog, thus she walked down the rest of the compartment with her head held high, so as not to see the people looking at her like she was a fish out of water. She failed to notice the pale hook-nosed boy who was tailing her, although she did notice that the sound of rain on the roof had stopped almost as soon as she had walked in. "Just my luck." She muttered under her breath. "I swear I'm jinxed sometimes!" (This is the magical world. When you say you are jinxed, it is an actual possibility.) Oh great, she thought after glancing down at a silly little first year who hastily looked the other way when Iseult looked at her. People will think I'm crazy now too, because I'm talking to myself. Greeeeaaat way to start a new school year Iseult. Exceptionally clever. Ahead, a door marked "Rest rooms" loomed at the end of the (very long it seemed to Iseult) carriage. Two silhouettes of a witch and wizard were ballroom dancing below the sign. Iseult kicked the door open casually with her foot, and at this disturbance the wizard's silhouette tripped over and the pair ended up in a black heap. "Sorry!" she whispered softly, and quickly shut the door before she caused any more damage. The bathrooms carriage was decorated in red-and-cream striped wallpaper, and two cream plush chairs with matching poufs lay in one corner. Seeing another door with a dancing female silhouette on it, Iseult carefully pushed this one open, and sat down on a chair, only to realise.She had left her uniform in her suitcase, in the other carriage, with those stupid boys, and although it wasn't raining now, she had a niggling feeling that if she stepped outside again, it would start to pour. And possibly rain some sort of animal if she was really unlucky. So, magic was the only way to go. Iseult pulled out her wand, (12 ¼ inches, Rosewood inlaid with mother of pearl, unicorn hair, quite springy with a good feel in the hand and beautiful decoration, a great all rounded wand, as Mr Olivander had said) and she bit her lip a little too hard, and then she said the magic words.  
  
'Accio, Uniform!'  
  
There was a long pause, but after a few moments, Iseult's robes flew in the open window, hovered in the air for a few moments, before folding themselves and dropping into a pile at Iseult's feet. She changed hastily into the white shirt, embroidered at the sleeves and pockets with the school's crest in black, the above-knee-length pleated skirt which was not-so similar to girl's uniform skirts all over the world, and finally the robe. The long formal robes were heavy and black, lined with black satin and had a large hood, edged with snow-white ermine fur flecked with black. Iseult loved her robes. They were sleek and elegant and designed for snowy winter days. But, they were way to formal. Plus, there was a chance she would get them soaked pretty quickly. She sighed, and reluctantly sent them back to her suitcase.  
  
'Oicca, Robe!'  
  
And the black bundle zoomed back out the window. Iseult pulled on her emblazoned jersey and her normal school robe, which was fitted (thank god, she hated baggy clothes) with flared sleeves and a curved cut bottom, and pushed open the doors to the main part of the bathrooms carriage. The two chairs were still vacant, and Iseult dumped her clothes on one of them and moved to the large mirror on one wall. As she had thought, the rain had flattened her hair to her head. Despite the charm on her hair, which would have been a few weeks old anyway, the rain had completely messed up her perfect reddy-gold waves of hair that had rippled down her back previously. Only magical rain messes up charms that easily, she thought. There must be a witch or wizard nearby doing weather magic, and their spell must have gone outa control. Magical rain or no, her hair was a mess, so Iseult pointed her wand at the crown of her head and whispered, 'Mes Cheveux rouges-blonds, Tu as perfecto!' It was a dead-easy French charm she had learnt from her French cousin, Elaine. The French "belle-magiques" were the most effective and simplest spells for hair, and now her hip-length reddy-blonde hair again flowed down her back in smooth waves. She was wondering if the carriage would be free of those stupid boys yet when. Iseult's train of thought was broken by three slow claps. In the mirror Iseult saw the hook-nosed boy that the other boys had described to them before. He was sitting in one of the other chairs with a peculiar smile on his face. Iseult twirled to face him coolly. "So, you can do magic then?" He was smirking from ear to ear. "I thought that you were just another stupid mud-blood at first, but then I saw the uniform flying past the windows." Iseult flushed at the reference to mud-bloods. She would have liked to have told him that she indeed was muggle-born, which was untrue but would have been worth it for the look on his face. She hadn't intended for anyone to see her doing magic. However, she felt bold. She was only a third year and those were not easy charms she had done, even for a competent fourth-year witch or wizard. "Well what can you do, then?" she said, surprising herself with the confidence in her voice. She knew she was good at magic; she just had a niggling feeling that this guy might be better. The boy made a scoffing sound. "I, Serverus Snape, am far beyond the use of petty charms like 'Accio'." His wand, now in his hand, was glowing slightly. It wanted to perform the spell he had started to say. He smiled, and when he did so the expression looked odd, out of place on his face. Turning away he concentrated on a vase of flowers on a bench across the room. 'fox-glove' he muttered, pointing his wand at the vase. A stalk of foxglove flowers floated into his hand. He handed the sprig to Iseult, who took it gingerly, holding it away from her body. Just as she tried to think of something to say to excuse her, the door burst open. Iseult, who's back was to the door, spun to see the blond-haired boy and the short, pinched boy from the compartment walk in. The blond boy looked from Serverus, to Iseult, to the flower, to Iseult's distressed face, and tried to conceal a smirk. Iseult turned back to see Serverus scowling, his expression one of extreme hatred, and gulped. She could sense a fight coming on, and she did not want to be a witness. Serverus scowled even more deeply and continued. 'Accio.' he was looking at the blond boy, grinning evilly. 'Accio Lupin.' Out of the vase came a bluey-grey flower, which Serverus made to hover in the air for a moment before grasping it with his hand. "This flower causes madness," he was talking to Iseult but looking at the blond boy, who was glaring at him from the doorway. "Traditionally, it is the flower of werewolves and their brutality." he turned the flower over, before dropping it to the floor and crushing it with his foot. Iseult looked back at the door, more than a little bit frightened by this incredibly creepy boy. The two boys who had been there before had disappeared entirely. Iseult decided that the time to be nice and polite was over. This guy was incredibly scary. Incredibly scary. He looked like a vampire, the sort that you read about in muggle books. Iseult took a deep breath and addressed the vampire-look-alike. Amazingly the confidence flowed through her voice once again. "Lupin may cause madness, but Foxglove seeds are deadly." She handed him back the flower, which he took graciously enough, but when he looked up there was malice in his eyes. But. he wasn't looking at her. Iseult swerved around to see exactly who she guessed she would see. The arrogant boy from the carriage was evidently deciding whether to talk to her or have a go at Serverus. Iseult was entirely sick of being caught talking to people she did not want to talk to, and she didn't want to see a fight, so she grabbed her clothes and swept out of the carriage without a passing look at either of the boys. Guarding the door was the blonde boy and the uncannily rat-like boy with dirty-coloured hair. She had a strong urge to kick both of them for failing to get rid of Serverus (Snape was it?) when they had first walked in. She restrained herself, however, and swept off past them. Behind her a slightly squeaky voice exclaimed, "Hey Mooney, I'nt Sirius spose'ta be meetin us 'ere now?" Iseult didn't hear the reply; she was too busy trying to remember the umbrella charm. No. She couldn't remember it, but an improvisation would do. Iseult opened the carriage door and just as she thought, it suddenly started pouring with rain. Desperately trying to recall Latin classes, Iseult stepped through the door, saying, 'Anti-Aqua-Villa!' It worked, but not with the simple effect she would have wanted. Iseult found herself in a bubble devoid of water. She could see the rain drops evaporating as they came close to her. She couldn't help thinking of what would happen if she were to jump into a lake. Iseult hurried to the end of the carriage, and opened the door to her compartment, where Steph was deep in conversation with the boy who she now assumed was Sirius. After uttering the necessary spell to destroy the anti- water charm ('Anti-Aqua Magica Mortuus!'), she sat down beside CJ and Sierra. Steph was obviously boring Sirius quite intensely. "Sirius," she called. Sirius looked around. Quite happy that a girl apart from Steph was talking to him (he was not really used to making conversation with girls, but seeing as the others had abandoned him he had no choice), he ignored Steph's frowns completely and piped up rather overenthusiastically, (That's just how much Steph bored him) "Yes! I'm Sirius who are you?" "Oh.I'm Iseult and your friends are waiting for you by the toilet compartment." "Oh." He said, looking disappointedly at Sierra. "Why?" he added hopefully. Iseult shrugged. "Well, I." she stopped and collected herself. "It has something to do with that Serverus.Snape.Him." Iseult hoped this was sufficient explanation to get rid of him. It was. He sat up very upright, and you could almost see the male dominating instinct flowing into his veins. "Oh. Ok then." He said, still looking at Sierra in a disappointed fashion. He left. As soon as he did three female heads turned to face Iseult. "What, on EARTH, just happened?" cried CJ. "Why did you make him go away?!?!" wailed Steph. "I was just getting on to my joke about the German goldfish!" "Where have you been, who is Serverus Snape, and how did you know his name was Sirius?" asked Sierra coolly. So Iseult started from the beginning. Her story was littered with questions and interruptions from CJ and Sierra, and Steph's Whines. "And then I turned around, and Snape was sitting there, and he's sooo scary I swear his mothers a vampire or something! And he was sitting there smirking, and then he started talking about how he had thought I was an incompetent mud-blood." "He said that?" CJ exclaimed in horror. Apparently the twins had wizard parents but were very close to their muggle grandparents.  
  
"Yes! I was shocked too! And anyway he started giving me a lecture about how he was way beyond my standard of charms." "Ooh! Was that after you summoned your clothes to you?" "Yes, Steph. So he started summoning these flowers and then Moony walked in." "Moony?" Sierra raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah, he was the blonde guy. Then." "You mean Remus Lupin?" said Steph, swooning and fluttering her eye-lashes. "Honestly." CJ groaned at her sister. "Yeah.Wait." Iseult stopped, thinking. "That makes sense. Snape summoned a Lupin flower, and started talking to us about how it was associated with werewolves and caused madness. He was talking to me but obviously making a point to the blond.Remus." "Maybe Lupin's mad?" suggested Sierra light-heartedly. "He might be.or maybe." CJ was looking thoughtful. "Maybe What?" "Maybe he's a Werewolf!!!!" cried CJ, in such a tone that all the girls burst into fits of giggles. Laughter made Steph whineier. Steph moaned. "But my goldfish joke was really funny!" she glanced at her watch and jumped in her seat. "We better get changed, guys, its like, half an hour before we get there." Iseult winced. "I don't suggest you use the toilet carriage, as I have a feeling that a fight may be ongoing there."  
  
Sierra POV  
  
There was nothing that Sierra Rehine liked more than a good fight. Apparently Steph liked them too, as she was also accompianing her to the toilets. No, second thought it was probably because of those damn guys. Sierra had always liked boxing, although she didn't participate in the actual sport she could really get into a fight if she wanted to. They were almost at the door when Iseult came sprinting up to them. "You guys, I'm not quite sure you should go in there." Sierra looked at her, then at Steph, who now looked a bit apprehensive. "We'll be fine. Besides, I need to know what I'm up against if I ever feel the need to knock one of them out." Iseult grinned and Steph looked shocked. "B-but your, your n-not g-g-going t-to p-p-punch them a-are y-you!" she said, with her eyes and mouth wide open. Sierra grinned evily. "Lets hope for their sake I don't have to." She pushed the door open and peered inside, it had seemed that the boys had started with a wizards duel but then decided to abandon it for a more old- fashioned type of fighting. It seemed that the two called James and Sirius were doing the grunt of the work, while the other two were standing to the side, lazily throwing jinxes in from time to time. Sierra felt a tad sorry for the greasy-haired boy that they were beating up. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was an unfair fight. In a fit of rage she stormed across the room and pulled Sirius off him. "STOP IT!" she yelled, at the top of her lungs "STOP IT NOW! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DONE TO GET TO YOU LIKE THAT BUT I'M QUITE SURE HE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS" The boys stood there shocked. She could see that by the door Iseult and Steph were also standing there, mouths open. Sirius, who was now lying on the floor, got up slowly and brushed himself off, keeping his eyes on Sierra. The greasy-haired boy that they had been torturing pushed James off and shot an evil look at Sierra. "You don't have to fight my battles for me b?tch." He said, glaring at her menacingly. She heared Steph gasp from the door. "Fine then! I'll leave you to it next time." Sierra snapped angrily "In fact I'll even help them." She quickly drew her fist back and slammed it into his nose with a thud. Steph gasped again and Sierra felt a pang of guilt for hitting him. There was now a trail of deep scarlet running down his pale face from his nose. He wiped it with the back of his hand and stepped forward, glaring down at her. He then said something that made Sierra's hand shoot to her mouth in horror. James stepped forward and glowered at him. "Don't ever let me hear you say something like that to her again, Snape. If you do I swear I'll." "Oh shut up you!" she snapped at him "I don't want you to stick up for me. You're worse than he is." She turned around and stalked out the door, fists clenched at her sides. Iseult and Steph followed her out. The people who were in the carriage next to the bathroom had obviously heard the chaos as they were looking at her astonishedly. Well at least I'll have something to write back to Tristan and Justin about thought Sierra bitterly. I haven't even got to school yet and I'm in a fight. Well done Si! Steph took the time to break the silence. "Well that was err, interesting. Don't usually get scenes like that on the first day."  
  
Oh god, what did I do?  
  
"Where did you learn to fight like that?"  
  
I am in so much trouble!  
  
"You've got blood on your hand, did it hurt you?"  
  
Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god!  
  
"Sierra? Sierra are you ok?" Sierra finally realised that the girls were speaking to her. "Are you ok Sierra? You look a bit pale." Iseult looked worried. "No. I'm going to puke!" And with that she threw up right onto Iseult.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
"SHIT!!!" screamed Iseult. "Well, no its puke actually." Steph pointed out most unhelpfully. Steph had pushed both Iseult and Sierra into the girl's toilets, because everyone in the outside carriage were staring at them, and the boys had decided to continue the fight anyway, but with the rest of the Slytherins joining in. Suddenly a head popped round the door. "Oh, hey guys!.What happened?" "Oh, hi CJ. Sierra got into a fight with Snape and now she's thrown up all over me!" said Iseult brightly. "Is anyone here any good at removal charms?" A silence followed. Although any of them could have removed the puke if they had wanted to, Sierra was throwing up in the toilet, CJ was too busy laughing her head off, Iseult's wand was too covered in puke to work, and Steph just didn't want to get dirty. Iseult scowled. But then.an idea formed in her mind. "CJ, go get Lupin." At Iseult's words Steph brightened up immediately. "What.Who?.Why?" CJ stuttered. "Go and get Remus Lupin to come and get this shit off of me!!!" "Ok, Ok," said CJ, hurrying out of the door. An agonizing two minutes later she appeared dragging Lupin in through the door. Steph fluttered her eyelids at him. He blinked at her stupidly, and turned to CJ. "Why am I here?" he said, obviously meaning "Why am I in the girl's bathrooms?" "TO GET THIS SHIT OFF ME!!!" screamed Iseult again. "Oh. Ok." He was thinking of James and he did not want to get kicked again. Sierra, looking up from the toilet she was throwing up into, saw him look from Iseult to the door and yelled at him, "No you don't!! Get it off her NOW! I don't care what your friend will do to you, what I do will be worse if you don't help her!!" She paused, and turned to the toilet to puke again. However, Remus's memory of Sierra punching Snape was still very vivid, and he decided that it was best to help. "Stand up Iseult." he said nervously. Iseult didn't make the comment that she had never told him her name. He pointed the wand at her. "Removu."  
  
"Stop!" Iseult called. "I don't want that spell blowing me up by mistake." She took off her robe and lay it out on the floor. He got her point. "Removus Sordidus!" Remus chanted. Iseult noticed that he was a very elegant spell-caster. The spell worked, but when Iseult went to pick up her robes. "Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit! Its HOT!" "Ahh, yes, well that is one effect of the charm," said Lupin nervously, looking sideways at Sierra, "It will be normal in a few minutes." Iseult rolled her eyes. "Thank GOD I had the sense to try it out first!" She chewed her lip for a moment and then frowned. She pulled off her jumper and laid it on the floor. "Give me your robe, CJ." CJ obliged without question. In one fluid movement, Iseult pulled off her shirt and slipped on CJ's robe. Thankfully Iseult's skirt and hair were clean. Remus looked at the slightly yellow shirt she threw down to him. Looking sideways at the door he was thinking; James will kill me now. I'm dead. Deeaad! But he was too scared of the crazy brunette girl to bolt for the door.  
  
Steph's POV.  
  
Steph was guarding the door, as Sierra and Iseult did not want anyone to see them puking or covered in puke. Outside, Pairs of Gryffindors and Slytherins were teaming up to fight each other with fists and words. Suddenly, in the midst of the disarray, a prefect swept into the room. She was a seventh year girl, as far as Steph could tell, and she was wearing a green tie.A Slytherin! "What's going on?" she demanded in a cold voice. "Oh shit, Bellatrix." Muttered the cute boy, Sirius. Bellatrix turned to face him, and smiled coldly. "Ahh, my dearest cousin," she said icily. "You must learn to stay out of trouble. Evidently you need tutoring in that subject." He grinned at her sarcastically, but before he could open his mouth.  
  
"MORRIOS!" hissed his "dearest cousin", spitting the words. Sirius flew through the air, and landed splayed across the floor. Bellatrix smiled.  
  
"I hope, that Gryffindors will stop fighting in the future." She waved at the mangled form of Sirius, and James, who was crouching over him, glaring at Bellatrix, horrified. "Come along, Slytherins. The train is almost at Hogsmeade." She pranced out, the Slytherins trailing behind her. James, shocked, looked around the compartment. Then, puzzled, he called to Peter; "Wormtail?" "Yes, James?" "Wormtail, Where the hell is Remus?"  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Remus had finally finished de-puking all Iseult's clothes, and they were waiting for them to cool. Sierra had forbidden to let him go, so he was sitting on the floor, thinking, I am gonna die today, die today, die today, I am gonna die today because I didn't fetch James. He was humming along to the words he was singing in his head, and for some reason, it made him feel better. Sierra had finally got over her puking bout, and was beginning to feel a little better. She was discussing recent events with CJ and Iseult. "Sierra, why do you reckon that."Iseult chewed her lip. She was sitting on top of a toilet cubicle, still in CJ's robe. Finally she called out to Remus. "Remus, what is the arrogant guy with messy hair called?" Remus chuckled. He wondered what James would say if he had heard that. "Oh, you mean James?" he said off-handishly Iseult continued. "Why do you reckon that that James guy didn't punch Snape when he called you.that?" Sierra herself had been thinking about this. Although the last thing she wanted was to have one of those guys fight for her, James had seemed angry enough with Snape to punch him for any reason. Remus muttered something from behind his hand. They ignored him. "And why were they so angry with him anyway?" pointed out CJ. The girls all shrugged. Remus muttered something again. Sierra sighed heavily. "Ok, what is it? What are you muttering about?" "Noth." "And don't say 'Nothing'!" Remus sighed. He may as well tell her. She would probably attack him anyway. "Sirius was only fighting because James was." (He heard Sierra mumble "typical" under her breath.) "James was fighting Snape because, well, A, Snape is generally an asshole and we all hate him, and B, Snape was." He nodded in Iseult's direction pointedly. All the girls got the message, but before any argument or enquiry could be made, they head a raised voice at the door. "What do you mean, I can't come in? My friend is in there!" Steph, who was still guarding the door, explained. "WHAT! HES DOING WHAT?" Steph explained that he was cleaning the puke off Iseult's shirt. The next moment James Potter burst through the door, only to see CJ, Sierra, and Iseult dressed in only a skirt and a tightly wrapped robe, sitting on top of toilet cubicles, Remus sitting hunched on the floor, and Iseult's robe, jersey and shirt spread out flat on the floor. Understandably, he was a little shocked. He stood there with his mouth open for a few seconds then said, baffled, "Uh.Remus, can you come outside, Padfoot's hurt." Remus gingerly stepped outside and shut the door. The girls sat in silence for a moment, then heard a great cry of "OW!" from behind the door. "Moony! What did you do that for?" "Well, I knew you would do it to me eventually, so I struck first." The girls roared in laughter. Iseult and Sierra slapped hands and almost fell off the cubicles from laughing. After their bout of hysterics was over, someone said, "Shit, the trains stopped!" They all stared at each other wide-eyed. The ensuing panic came quickly, with Iseult and Sierra desperately getting changed VERY fast, and everybody yelling at them to go faster. They rushed out of the door, chuckling slightly at the absurdity of the situation, when they suddenly stopped. James, Remus and Peter were huddled around someone, someone who was obviously badly hurt. They crept closer, and when they saw the figure to be Sirius, Sierra gave a little gasp which was covered by Steph's louder one. "What did it?" asked Iseult nervously. "A Bitch did it. Shit, if she's killed him I'll kill her."James was facing away from them, but you could tell how angry he was just from the way he was sitting, so tensely. Iseult moved forward. She felt responsible. She knew it was because of her that the stupid idiots were fighting in the first place. "CJ, Steph, can you take our bags to the platform? We'll meet you there soon." Her pleading eyes said it all. They went without complaint. "Ok, so what spell did it?" said Iseult again, quite fed up with the stupidness of men. "Oh, she said.morrios," said the short rat-resembling boy that Iseult now knew was Peter. "What?" said Sierra, her tone of voice halfway between annoyed and disappointed. She and Iseult looked at each other. They had both been to magical schools where the dark arts were taught. Iseult pulled out her wand. Sierra grabbed the vase nearby and chucked the flowers to one side. They spoke together- "One Two Three." "Surgito!" Iseult cried, just as Sierra tipped the vase of water onto Sirius's head. She leaped back just in time as he abruptly jumped upright into sitting position, very disorientated. James, Remus and Peter were shocked. They seemed to have suddenly realised that they weren't invincible, and that there was a chance that these two girls were better at magic than any of them. A very small chance maybe, but still a chance. Before they had time to say anything, the girls were gone. The boys stood up, Sirius stretching out his still limbs. Sirius and James winked at each other. Suddenly, the door burst open. Iseult and Sierra were back. "This doesn't mean we like you, you know." Said Sierra pointedly. "We know that's what you were thinking, but your wrong." Iseult alleged. The boys stared at each other. Now they can read minds? Turning to go, Iseult called out "Bye Moony!" as the door shut. Iseult and Sierra waited on the other side of the door just long enough to hear the shout as Remus kicked James.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Sierra got off the train with CJ, Steph and Iseult. Seeing as her and Iseult were new they really didn't have any idea where to go so they just followed CJ and Steph as they walked towards a row of carriages that were seemingly horseless. They boarded a carriage and sat down, Iseult and Sierra on one side and Steph and CJ on the other (still bickering madly of course). Sierra looked at the view out the window and drifted off a bit, until she realised that everyone was staring at her. "Um, Sierra? Is it just me or is that skirt really, really short?" Sierra blushed. "Its not my fault ok guys?! Danielle insisted that I use her old school uniform - and she was really short when she was my age!" Steph and Iseult had almost doubled over laughing and CJ was still staring in awe at Sierra's skirt. Sierra went a rather deep shade of crimson and tugged at her skirt nervously. "It barely goes up to your thigh!" "Are you going to do a Marilyn Monroe for us? Coz I don't think anyone really wants to see your undies thanks!" "I don't know, I think Sirius Black would." Sierra poked her tongue out at Iseult and giggled slightly. "Well I think we all know what will happen if he tries anything." Everyone laughed except for Stephanie who looked slightly shocked. "You wouldn't!" "Oh I think we all know that I would," said Sierra, winking at Stephanie. "Oh come on Steph! I'm not that evil! Although I may look it." The girls laughed and CJ pulled out a pack of Exploding Snap cards. "Right then, who want's to play Sex?" Steph and CJ grinned but Iseult and Sierra exchanged nervous glances. "Uhh, CJ?" asked Iseult nervously "What does 'Sex' involve?" CJ saw the apprehension on the two girls faces and giggled. "well, 'Sex' is just snap." "Except you scream out SEX instead of SNAP!" explained Steph. "Precisely." "oh," said Sierra "I think I understand it. So its just a dirty version of Snap?" "Pretty much." "In that case, deal away!" said Iseult happily. The girls chatted and played 'Sex' for the whole journey. It was actually quite fun once you got competitive and people started accusing each other of cheating. It wasn't long however, before CJ and Steph began arguing noisily. Sierra decided to just ignore them and turned to Iseult. "What school did you go to before you came here?" "Oh, just a little school really. You wouldn't have heard of it." "Well, not many people have heard of Tora either." "Yeah, but I'd prefer not to talk about it." She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and Sierra decided to drop it. "What house do you think you're going to be in?" Iseult brightened considerably. "Oh I'm pretty sure I'll be in Ravenclaw. I got top marks in most of my exams last year. Do you know how they get sorted?" Sierra nodded glumly. "Tristan says that there's a hat." "A hat?" said Iseult sceptically with one eyebrow raised. Sierra shrugged. "No idea. Justin says that it bites you then your put into the house by however loud you scream. But then Danielle hit him with her Transfiguration book and told him not to be a nasty prick. So I'm kinda lost too." "Justin sounds like a dick." Said Iseult mildly. "He is." Sierra agreed, "But he's really good at talking his way out of things. If I had a sickle for everytime he talked his way out of trouble with Danielle. I would be one hell of a rich witch." They laughed then Iseult glanced at the twins (who were still arguing), leaned forward and whispered to Sierra, "Is it just me, or do you think its about time they were broken up?" the two girls grinned evilly at each other and pulled out their wands. "AQUANIUS PROSURTIS!" they shouted together. The two arguing girls were instantly drenched in a stream of water that exploded out of the tips of their wands. CJ slowly turned to Sierra and Iseult with a look of extreme indignation on her face. Sierra and Iseult burst into loud laughter and Sierra almost collapsed onto the seat. "That was not very nice." Said CJ, thumping Steph on the back so that she spit out the water she had accidentally swallowed. "s-s-sorry!" stuttered Sierra between fits of laughter. Iseult wasn't even bothering to say anything she was laughing too hard. The twins sat in indignant silence for the rest of the ride, while Sierra and Iseult tried to control their laughter. By the time the carriages stopped the two girls were still giggling uncontrollably. Steph shot them a look of pure hate and stalked off towards the entrance of a giant castle. CJ waved goodbye and followed her inside. Iseult turned to Sierra. "So, do you have any idea where we're supposed to be now?" "uh." Sierra started, but was cut off by a strict looking woman who was pushing her way towards them. "You girls were supposed to have come in with Hagrid!" "Oh, uh, sorry! But we followed some other girls here and we." Iseult drifted of, smiling nervously at the stern woman. "Well then, come on!" She ushered them inside towards a group of scared- looking first years.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Iseult was slightly shocked. They were to be sorted with the first years!!!! AHHHHH!!! She voiced her disgust to Sierra, but the stern lady glared at them and Sierra merely gulped, and pointed at the stool on the platform that they were obviously going to have to sit on. A very high stool in plain view of the whole school. And with Sierra's skirt. "Shuddup." Mumbled Sierra miserably. Iseult was having a laughing fit. She only stopped when the stern lady glared at her again. They were waiting just outside the doors of the main hall. Dumbledore had not yet arrived, and so the fidgeting first years and dozen or so third years were waiting patiently for their tardy headmaster to turn up. Out of the blue, a tall, slightly sunburnt blonde boy ran backwards into the room, evidently waving at someone outside. He continued running backwards until he was stopped by an obstruction-Iseult. He was running very fast, and Iseult fell over. So did he. To cut a long story short the two of them ended up in a heap on the stone floor. Iseult had landed face down, and her chin had procured substantial bruising. She groaned, while Sierra attempted to stifle her laughter. Half the first years were giggling too. The boy on top of her stood up abruptly. His face was even redder now than the sunburn had ever made it, and he bent down to help Iseult up. Iseult was do dazed from the fall and too aware of the teacher to have a go at him, although she dearly wanted to kick him for making her look so stupid in front of all these people. Instead she just glared at him profusely. She could tell Sierra was doing the same behind her, and felt greatly supported. Evidently the boy was blind as well as clumsy, because he seemed to take their scowls for smiles, and introduced himself. "I'm Alessandro Corbeau. Sorry bout that, tripped over you before; I was waving to the gamekeeper." He blushed again, closely resembling a blonde tomato. Iseult felt that a welcome like this could hardly be met with a scowl. At least he apologised, she reasoned. "Oh. Hi, I'm Iseult, This is Sierra. Its.don't worry about it." The teacher coughed. Verrrry Slowly, Alessandro turned around. "I." he started. Apparently the teacher didn't care. "Yes, Yes," she tutted. "I know. Now sit down at that table before I start to care!" See, I told you she didn't care. Anyway. Alessandro apologised again, and quickly swept through the door to alight on one of the benches surrounding the Gryffindor table. Suddenly, the mass of first and third years started briskly moving forward. Iseult and Sierra walked in with the rest of them, admiring the astonishingly beautiful great hall. Incredibly gothic, the whole huge place seemed to be carved of one block of stone. Flutes and arches decorated the walls, while strangely happy gargoyles were waving at the students. Iseult was admiring the floor when. She looked up. At the most amazing ceiling she had ever seen. At the far ends of the hall, the sun was setting. Ripples of pink, red, orange and gold slowly faded into a strip of colour akin to green, and then into a deepest, darkest blue. Iseult had read and heard about this ceiling before, but she had imagined a glass-roof effect. This was like an omnipotent God had taken the evening sky, with all it's clouds and winds and colours, and placed it inside the precincts of the roof of the great hall. It was an astounding sight. The group of newcomers shuffled forward nervously, all aware that the whole school was staring at them. Over the heads of the first years, (little- wittwle firwst wearws) Iseult could see the lined face of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster. His hands rested on his bony fingers, but his eyes were bright and sparkling as he gazed over his newest charges. Gathered in a huddle at the head of the hall, the apprehensive group waited for the teacher to explain the sorting ceremony. But she didn't. Just as the first name was about to be called, a very scared first-year called out quietly, "What do we have to do?" The teacher, for whom the sorting ceremony was ritual, looked slightly taken aback. In the end, she sighed, comforting the child by explaining in motherly fashion, "Just put the hat on dear. Sit on the stool and put on the hat." The first child, a chubby first year boy, walked up to the stool tensely, gazed around at his audience, and sat on the stool, his pudgy knees wobbling. It was tough being first. The teacher picked up the sorting hat from off its pedestal, and placed it on the boy's head. He must have been told a similar story as Sierra about biting hats, because he screwed up his face, as if waiting for a great deal of pain. This, however, never came. Instead, the hat was the one who screamed. "HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat, louder than you would think possible for something created by a milliner, albeit a magical one. The pudgy boy skipped off down to the Hufflepuff table, who were applauding wildly. After this successful sorting came a stream of apprehensive first years. Antoinette Barboutiss, Maximillian Bolle, Neil Diamant, Petunia Evans, George Haberdeen, Asher Juile, Amanda Miller, Coco Popp, Mimi Quail, Violet Le Siq, Xerxes Ubag and Orwin Xob all followed after the first boy, Tommy Aguare, as well as many others. After what was most definitely an age, came the third years. "RAVENCLAW!" yelled the sorting hat when placed on Joan Aquitan. "HUFFLEPUFF!" to Elixandra Joiner "GRYFFINDOR!" to Bella Lebenne "SLYTHERIN!" to Frank Ophobic Finally, the name "Peregrine, Iseult" echoed through the great hall. Iseult trod up the steps and along the platform to sit on the stool. I'm glad I don't have Sierra's skirt on. She could feel the weight of the hat on her head. It was surprisingly heavy. Maybe it has a real brain inside it? Iseult pondered, waiting for the magic of the hat to kick in. It seemed to have been almost half a minute since she had sat down on the stool. It hadn't taken this long for the other students. Time passes differently when I'm on your head, said a voice in Iseult's head. It was the hat! Iseult smiled. So this was how it worked. The hat was a mind reader!  
  
More of a mind-analyser really, said the hat. You supply what is in your head, and I analyse it. You have to give me the right bits to analyse of course. When that Aguare boy put me on, he told me that he was terrified of school, and that he thought I looked too old. Now that is NOT the right thing to do.  
  
"So, How am I supposed to show you things?" Iseult said.or thought. She wasn't sure which. Just think them, run them through your head, that is how everyone else does it. Ok. Iseult had no idea of what house she should be in, as long as it wasn't Slytherin, with the Snape boy, she was happy. So, without being biased towards any particular house, she ran through all that was in her head. All that had happened that day, that week. From saying good-bye to her mother, her sisters, her brother, her cousins, to all that had happened today, to her joy at being at Hogwarts finally, to her anticipation to learn more magic. When she felt that she had sufficiently emptied her mind, the hat paused, then said, Carry on, I haven't got enough, and you are a very mixed bag. I'm not psychic you know. Oh, wait.I am. Continue anyway! So Iseult searched in her mind, and emptied out her store of memories. Memories from when she was a baby, her father picking her up and her mother cuddling her. Memories of from when she was a child, holidays on her parent's estate in France, running through the olive groves and being chased by her dear brother through the rows of vineyards. And one time, a time from when she was a little girl. When she cried because she couldn't fly like the falcons that soured above the hills and the mountains. She tried to jump off a small cliff, so that she could take to the air as the birds did. Her magical ability took hold and Iseult soured like a bird all the way down to the herb garden where her mother and grandmother were resting. "I flew, Grandmere! I flew!" she cried to her astonished muggle grandmother. "Bless the Lord!" exclaimed Iseult's loving Italian grandmother. "My little dove has become an eagle!" Ahah! Yelled the hat in Iseult's ear. That's it! I have it! Now, let me tell you how I have analysed your mind, or the parts of it you have offered me anyway. Iseult, dazed from being pulled back to the present so quickly, nodded naively. Now, any untrained hat half as wise as me would think that that whole flight memory skit symbolises you striving to reach new heights, being ambitious, a quality that would land you in Slytherin. However. "Yay!" thought Iseult. "I'm not in Slytherin!!!" .That was what I thought you would think. As I was saying, To any untrained hat you would seem the perfect Slytherin. However, as your grandmother says, you are a dove, gentle and caring, but can also be an eagle, the bravest and strongest of mortal birds. Plus, you put so much emphasis on your family, your home, you are honest, loyal.The hat realised that Iseult wanted to get off the chair and down to her table. So, without any further ado, I sort Iseult Peregrine as a ......GRYFFINDOR!!!!! Iseult grinned and took of the hat. As she handed it back, it said quietly, Come visit me in Dumbledore's office one time. I'm quite lonely most of the year. The Gryffindor table was clapping wildly. Iseult was grinning and feeling very much more valuable after the Sorting hat's appraisals. As she descended the steps she looked for empty seats on the Gryffindor table. Coming closer, she saw that STUPID JAMES POTTER move across to make space as she came near, but she walked right past him. Finally, on the opposite side of the table from James, she saw Alessandro. He grinned at her when she gestured to the seat. Iseult sighed. Oh well. At least he's friendly, although definitely unusual. "SLYTHERIN!" yelled the hat, and a dark-haired girl trodded down the stairs. "It's your friend now." Alessandro nodded to Sierra, the girl in the tiny skirt who was stepping up to the stool. Sierra POV  
  
Right, well this is embarrassing. Sierra was now sitting on the very high stool in front of the whole school, most of whom were tittering loudly about the size of her skirt. Sierra turned a violent shade of red and picked the hat up and put it on. Well hello then, no need to feel embarrassed. They'll have forgotten all about it by the next student I sort. Sierra let out a little mental eep! And sat up. No need to fret dear. I'm just going to have a poke around your head to find out your appropriate house. You're a psychic hat? Thought Sierra miserably. To some extent. Now please be quiet and let me have a look! Sierra sat silently as the hat muttered some stuff into her ear. Mental hat, she thought. I heard that. Oh, sorry I have half a mind to put you in Slytherin you know, from what I can see you'd hate that. Only 'coz that git Snape is in it. Ah, well then best to put you in "GRIFFINDOR" Sierra sighed happily and walked towards Iseult and Alesandro, who were waving at her and beaming happily. CJ and Stephanie also smiled and waved, although they were at the Ravenclaw table next to them. She ignored all the ogling looks her skirt got from the various testosterone-filled people in the hall and made a silent vow that next year she would be investing in a very long skirt. She sat down next to Iseult and put her head in her hands.  
  
"I am going to kill Justin for making me wear this." She groaned into her hands, "People are still staring at me." "Oh that's just because it rides up a bit at your arse!" said Alesandro brightly. Sierra shot him a dark look. "I have a big arse!" she wailed loudly "I have a big arse, a short skirt and evil brothers. My life is hell!" Iseult giggled, then looked at Sierra seriously. "Ok, one; you do not have a big arse. Two; yes your skirt is short but it's not that big a deal. Three; I don't know your brothers so I can't exactly comment on them but I'm sure they're not that bad." "Oh yes they are! When I was five Justin told me that there was a werewolf under my bed and that it was waiting to bite me!" Alesandro began to say something but he was cut off (much to the relief of Iseult, she knew he was going to say something thoroughly un-helpful) by the golden plates in front of them filling up with food. Alesandro was instantly distracted and began piling his plate up with various foods, grinning like a madman. Sierra daintily piled a few chicken legs onto her plate along with some peas and mashed potato. Iseult was poking something nervously with her fork, before pushing it to the side of her plate with a look of pure disgust. It wasn't long (well, time flies when you're having fun doesn't it?) before everyone had eaten their fill and Professor Dumbledore had given the customary start of year notes. Sierra, Iseult and Alesandro followed the new Gryffindor prefects (Justice Monroe and Jason Belch) up to the portrait of a rather large lady in a pink dress. Sierra was reminded with a jolt of her bottom and sub-consciously pulled the back of her skirt down a bit. Iseult started giggling and pointed behind Sierra, who looked around and saw James Potter lying on the ground tangled some what precariously along with a suit of armour. Sierra joined Iseult in her giggling fit and promptly stepped back onto Alesandro who screamed in pain. "Ouch! Those heels hurt Sierra! Jeez, warn me before you try to stab me in the foot." "Sorry Alesandro! I was too busy laughing at, what was that charming name you called him before Iseult? Ah yes, I was too busy laughing at that stuck up prick with the hair to notice that you were standing a few inches from my arse." "And a very nice one it is too I notice." "Unlike yours, Black." Quipped Iseult in a snobbish fashion. The trio stepped into the portrait hole. Sierra looked around in awe. "Wow! The common rooms weren't like this at Tora!" Fires were roaring in the grates at either end of the red and gold decorated room. Comfy sofas and chairs were scattered all around the room, along with a few tables thrown in to encourage students to actually participate in homework activities. It seemed that Iseult was just as awe- struck as Sierra, as her mouth was hanging and her eyes were wide. "So, um, where are we supposed to go?" she asked Sierra. Alessandro pointed towards a staircase winding upwards from the right hand corner of the room.  
  
"That's where the girls dorm's are. You'll find your rooms up there, its not hard. It says 'Third Years' on the door." "Thanks Alessandro!" said Sierra warmly, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Quel du!" Alessandro looked confused. "What's 'Quel du' mean?" "Its elvish," Iseult explained "for 'Good Night'. I didn't know you spoke elvish Sierra?" "Only a little, Danielle keeps trying to teach me. But I truly suck at languages." The pair laughed and headed towards the girls dormitories, as Alessandro headed towards the boys. Climbing the stairs, Sierra noticed a number of interesting pictures, and wondered vaguely what had happened to her trunk that she had left in the entrance hall. They found the room that said 'Third Years' with surprising ease and entered rather hesitantly. Inside, chatting happily were two girls. The girls turned as Sierra and Iseult entered and beamed at them. The first girl had curly long red hair and hazel eyes, the second had a short black page-boy cut with striking green eyes. The red head stood up and offered a hand to Iseult. "Hey! You must be the new girls. Glad to meet you, I'm Ginger. Ginger O'Rourke and this here," she gestured towards the other girl, who was waving in a bored fashion "is Trinity Russe." "Oh," said Iseult nervously "I'm Iseult Peregrine and this is Sierra Rehine." "Rain? That's a funny name." Said Trinity abruptly. "Its not Rain, it's pronounced that way but its really spelt Ray-heen-ay" "Ok then." Said Trinity with no apparent interest whatsoever. She stood up and walked out of the dorm. Sierra stared after her, mouth agape. "Is she always that rude?" Ginger smiled apologetically. "No, well yes. But she's nice when you get to know her. Just a little crabby sometimes."  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Iseult was gazing out the window up by the end of her bed. Everyone had a wide silled window and small alcove to themselves, as well as a chair and wardrobe which sat in the sunny warmth of Iseult's alcove. She was not listening to Ginger's reply. Ginger! Iseult pitied the poor girl immensely. What kind parent with any sense at all would call their daughter Ginger? ESPECIALLY if it is pretty obvious that they are going to have red hair. Iseult ran her hand through her own almost but not quite resembling strawberry blonde hair. Imagine if she had been called Blondie! She chuckled at the thought. Iseult drifted over to Sierra, who was obviously equally interested in the view out her window. Sierra turned and grinned. "Up for a bit of exploring the castle? We're free until eight," asked Iseult, wanting to get away from Trinity and Ginger's chatter. Sierra nodded, and the two girls slipped on their robes. "Isn't Alessandro gorgeous?" Sierra said as they skipped down the spiral stairs. "Yes! I knew he would be!" Laughed Iseult. "Politically incorrect in many ways, but gorgeous. I thought you didn't like him at first?" Sierra shrugged absentmindedly. Iseult was quite amazed that she and Sierra had not even known each other for a day, but already were talking like old friends! The two girls arrived in the comm. Vividly decorated with red and gold tapestries, It was extremely cosy, and reminded Iseult of a little après- ski hotel in France that she had stayed at with her parents once. "Can we go into the boy's dorms?" Iseult looked at Sierra puzzledly as her friend said this. But then her eyes widened, and you could almost hear her brain go 'click'. "Ahhh. Alessandro. Riiight. I dunno." Iseult said, blushing. Her friend chuckled. "Blonde moment?" Sierra asked as Iseult poked out her tongue. She continued, "We may as well go up and knock, see if he'll come around with us. We'll get lost otherwise." Iseult nodded, slightly embarrassed, but then laughed. "As long as I get to be the one to tell that stuck-up prick that we aren't looking for him." Sierra laughed, but reluctantly agreed. Up the opposite set of stairs they went, and knocked on the "third years" dorm door. Iseult called out, "Its Iseult and Sierra!" Just as predicted, a slightly flustered James Potter appeared at the door almost immediately, followed by a more relaxed Sirius, who said very coolly, "How are you ladies this evening?" Iseult pretended not to feel incredibly cruel and chimed brightly, "Oh we're great thanks! Hey, can we come in?" The boys, evidently, couldn't believe their luck, and invited them in to the dorm, where a handful of boys were playing some form of wizarding poker around a low table. The boy's rooms were almost identical to the girls' dorms in many ways, with five four-poster beds against the wall of the round tower, dotted with small alcoves. Couches and tables were scattered in the centre of the room, and one long skylight giving a view of the deep blue twilight sky. The difference between the two rooms, taking into consideration that Iseult and Sierra had only just arrived, were the decorations. Quidditch, football and snowboarding posters covered the walls, comics covered the floors (but Iseult saw Sirius kicking a "Play wizard" under his bed) and "Imp Hexed and the Warlocks" was playing at full blast on the wireless. "So, do you girls want a tour of the castle?" clamoured Sirius. James looked hopeful, and Remus snickered beside him. "Sure," Sierra shrugged. "In fact, Alessandro, what would you say to a walk around the castle? Show us around?" "Ok!" cried Alessandro, grinning like a madman. The boys playing cards were by now all watching. Iseult gazed around, smiling cheekily. "Great, lets go then." As Alessandro was tugging his shoes on, Iseult caught Remus's eye. He smirked back at her. "Kick James for me!" Iseult mouthed, looking sideways in 'That stuck up prick's' direction. Remus gagged slightly as he tried not to laugh. Finally Alessandro had his boots on and the trio were ready to leave. As they swept out, Iseult had to restrain herself from screaming out "Bye Remus!" and listening for the scream as someone was kicked. You are so cruel! Iseult told herself. Oh, yes, but I like being cruel. She grinned. Evilly. They descended the spiral stairs in single file. "So, why did you guys pulled me outa there?" asked Alessandro at last. "Not that I mind, of course." "It's just like I said, we want to have a look around the castle without getting lost." "And get away from a few people," added Iseult "Although I could probably navigate the school with everything Tristan and Justin have told me." Navigating around the busyness and furniture of the comm, the trio found the entrance, pushed open the fat lady's portrait and clambered through. "Where to?" Alessandro combed his fringe back with his fingers. Iseult realised what she was too busy tripping over to notice before; that in his own way, Alessandro was good looking. His stripe of red sunburn across his cheeks was obviously from a summer holiday on the beach somewhere. "Where did you holiday? To get this?" Iseult touched the burn lightly, but he still flinched. "South of Amalfi. My Dad has a place there. I spent way too much time in the sun this holidays." Iseult gasped, beaming. "Amalfi! Oh My God! You are so lucky! I love the coast down there!" "Are you Italian, Alessandro?" Sierra asked lightly. Alessandro smiled shyly. "Well, yeah, my Dad is. Mum's English though so that's why I'm going here rather than some Italian school. And call me Aless or Alesk or something, k?" "Aless, Ok." "So where are you guys from? England or Wales or where?" Iseult choked briefly but recovered to say, "I'm like you I think. Spend the school year here, Go back home to France in July, and spend holidays at grandparent's house in Tuscany." "You're French?" said Sierra and Alessandro at once. They had reason to be surprised. Based on stereotypes, Iseult was amazingly un-French like. "Well, No! My Parents are both Italian-born Englanders, but they own an estate in France, well; it's like a glorified farm really, where we have vines and a few orchards. My heart is closer to Italy really. I don't like England. Bloody cold. The other two nodded, both dreaming of a sunny holiday on a French vineyard estate. Sierra shivered, noticing how cold it was, but added her origins to the mix. "Thailand. Although my parents were both english.But we moved to London when Tristan started school." "Wow! That must have been exotic." Aless grinned. All this time they had been steadily plodding down the multiple staircases, and now found themselves in the marble atrium by the great hall, where Iseult had, not that long ago found herself face down on the marble floor, and where they had first caught a glimpse of the magnificent ceiling of the great hall. Iseult rubbed her bruised chin reminiscently, glaring at Aless, who was gazing through the space between the double staircases, up into the far above rafters of Hogwarts. She looked around for Sierra, who had already slunk over to the open door. As Iseult walked towards her, she turned and grinned mischievously, beckoning and gesturing at something outside. Iseult reached the door, and looked in the direction Sierra was pointing. Pling. (They struck the same train of thought.) Iseult couldn't help grinning. "Acio, swimming togs!" she called. Sierra rolled her eyes. Iseult laughed. "Well, I'm not skinny-dipping!" and she skipped back into the atrium, to drag Alessandro outside.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
The water was amazingly cold, and for a brief moment Sierra wondered whether this really was the best idea after all. Especially with her amazingly revealing thong. When Aless and Iseult had seen it they'd had a field day. "That's not a bikini!" Aless had exclaimed in awe. "That's just three pieces of material with strings around it" "First the skirt and now this, I'm going to hate to see your pyjamas!" giggled Iseult in return. Sierra had just lifted her nose in the air and gave them both the finger. They were still giggling as Sierra slipped into the water. "Dicks." She mumbled softly. Iseult took a running jump into the water off one of the rocks, screaming gleefully. She landed right next to Sierra, who spluttered as she was splashed with water. "We heard that!" said Iseult happily, before diving under the water. Sierra propelled herself over to where Iseult had popped up. "Well you are! I'm having a hard enough time with everyone else about my skirt, I don't need you starting on my bikini." She turned to Aless, who was sitting on a rock laughing. "Aren't you coming in?" "No way! You're not getting me in there. Even with a wetsuit." "Oh come on!" said Iseult "What's wrong with it?" "Well, apart from the fact that it's bloody cold - there's a giant squid in there." "Really!" exclaimed Iseult, who looked like all her Christmases had come at once. "Will it come up to us?" "I don't think so, it usually stays down deep." "Exactly," said Sierra "You're not going to get hurt. Just come in!" "Yeah, come on Aless. We'll save you from the big bad boogie monster at the bottom of the lake." "Don't joke about things like that." Said Aless indignantly "Its not funny. You never know what could be lurking at the bottom of the lake." Iseult rolled her eyes. "Give us the real reason." She said. "Oooh! I know what his reason is!" giggled Sierra. "What is it!?" "His dick hurts!" At this Sierra burst into uncontrollable laughter and went under the water. Iseult and Aless gave each other a look of utter disbelief at their friend. Sierra popped up a moment later spluttering. "What the hell was that Sierra?" said Iseult in amazement. "Did the squid get you or something?" ("I knew it." Aless muttered inaudibly) Sierra just laughed harder and had to control herself before she was able to speak. "No, its just... whenever Tristan want's to get out of something he always tells Danielle that his dick hurts. It works too!" Iseult giggled and splashed Sierra. Soon a full fledged water fight had occurred, with the two girls screaming loudly and Aless chanting "Fight, Fight, Fight!" from the sidelines. Suddenly the door to the school flung open. "SHIT!" said Iseult, "We're not supposed to be in here I think!" The two girls ducked under the water while Aless quickly jumped behind a rock muttering something about how he really should stop be-friending people who were completely insane and likely to get him thrown out of Hogwarts. But luckily for them the screaming had not attracted McGonagall, but James, Sirius and Remus. Who were never likely to hear about a fight without being involved in it in some way. (Well, maybe not so lucky for Sierra. in her current state of dress) "Oy Aless, what happened to the girls?" said James, looking around eagerly. "Yeah, it was you who were fighting wasn't it?" added Sirius, also looking around. "I would never fight with girls Sirius," said Aless indignantly, coming out from behind the rock and brushing himself off. "I, unlike you, am a gentleman. Which is why I, unlike you, are friends with the girls." Sirius rolled his eyes. "So how much did you bribe them anyway?" Aless went red (well, redder than he is already anyway) "I did NOT bribe them. I just refrained from trying to look up their skirts with a mirror." It was Sirius' turn to blush then. "Yeah, well. I couldn't help it. You saw how short Sierra's skirt was." "HEY! I HEARD THAT!" shouted Sierra irritably. She'd just gone up for a quick breather when she heard Sirius' comment. Remus smiled and tried to stifle his laughter. "Oh hello Sierra. Didn't see you there. Sirius was just talking about you." Sirius shot a withering look at Remus. Sierra kicked something underneath the water, which turned out to be Iseult. "Hey! What was that for? I reckon I almost saw the squid." She looked around, and noticed the three boys. "What are you boys doing here? For gods sake have you ever heard of privacy?" James gave her a winning smile and said, "We just wanted to check if you were ok, we heard the screaming and thought that you girls might be in trouble." "Oh my hero." Replied Iseult, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Remind me to come to you if I ever need someone to stare at my chest." Everyone laughed except James, who looked rather put out. "Oh come on, we were just being nice!" "It's not our fault that you were causing such a racket!" "They made me come, I didn't want to. Ouch! What was that for?" "Revenge, dear Moony. I need not remind you that you've been doing it to me all day." "Yeah, that's because they were egging me on." He retorted. "Hey don't bring us into it!" Said Sierra lightly, "Its not like we said 'Go on Remus, kick James!'" "Well, actually." Iseult said guiltily, "I might have egged him on a little bit." Aless laughed. Remus, using his initiative and taking what little distraction Iseult had caused, swiftly delivered another kick to James' calf. "ARGH! What was THAT for?" "Revenge my dear Prongs," said Remus in a perfect imitation of James. "I need not remind you that you've been doing it to me all day." James gasped melodramatically. "I have not! I've only done it to you once today." "Ah yes, but you've WANTED to." "I have not." "You have so! I can tell." "Tell me, Remus. Why would I want to kick you?" "Well," Remus began "You were about to kick me back in the compartment when I let." "OK OK!" James cut him off, then tried to kick him again, but Remus jumped away. This soon became a full-fledged fight between James and Remus. Oh yes, and Sirius. Who had jumped in as soon as he had finished egging the two boy's on. Aless had lost interest in the fight (and who could blame him, he'd seen the same thing happen so often between the same people) and was busy picking petals off nearby daisies and throwing the stems into the fight when he'd finished. Sierra and Iseult exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. "Immature pricks." Mumbled Iseult. "Too right." Sierra mumbled back. The two girls swam slowly to the edge of the lake and got out, with the help of Aless. The boys stopped fighting as soon as the two girls had got out. James and Sirius were now gaping at their bathing costumes. "Well?" snapped Iseult, who was shivering with the cold "Are you going to offer us your robes or not?" The two boys quickly took off their robes and offered them to the two girls, who took them haughtily. "Why don't you use your own?" asked Aless. "Like hell I'm putting on something that's wet. If I get a cold I won't be able to make out" She pouted slightly. "And we don't want THAT to happen do we boys?" Sirius and James agreed eagerly and Remus snorted in the background. Sierra noticed an evil flicker in Iseult's eye as she looked at Remus' slightly cut lip. Iseult gasped and ran to Remus. "Oh Remus! Are you ok?" Sierra stifled a giggle and ran to him as well. "Oh poor baby! Does it hurt?" "We'll have to get this fixed. What did those evil boys do to you?" "Do you want me to kiss it better?" "Hey!" objected Sirius "What about us? We're hurt too." "Well that's what comes to nasty boys who like to fight a lot" tutted Iseult "He started it!" "Really, you do like to have attention don't you." The two girls turned away and led Remus up to the castle, still cooing over him. Sirius looked at James in exasperation. Aless had picked up the girls sopping wet uniforms and was now following them up to the school, laughing his head off. As soon as the girls had reached the entrance hall they collapsed into giggles. "Did you see the look on that moron's face!" laughed Iseult. "Yes! Oh, that was just classic." "We really have to do this again." Said Iseult to Remus, who was also grinning madly. "Definitely. I've never seen Sirius look that jealous before. I wish I had my camera." Sierra sighed contentedly and wiped the tears from her eyes. "God that was good! Oh man, I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my life! You were just fantastic Iseult. 'What did those evil boys do to you?'" Iseult giggled. "As were you, Sierra." She pretended to swoon over Remus. "'Do you want me to kiss it better?' So original!" "Well we better get up to the common room." Remus chuckled. "Before they come in and realise that your not getting it off with me in a random broom cupboard." Sierra was doubled over and clutching her sides, while Iseult had slid down the wall she was laughing so hard. "Yes, your right we better. Come on Iseult!" The trio ran the way back to the common room, where they returned to their states of hysterical laughter. Justice Monroe gave them a seething look and said loudly, "If you're going to make such a racket then you better get up to your dormotories. Some of us here are actually trying to WORK." Sierra and Iseult bid farewell to Remus. Still laughing madly they collapsed into their dorm room and fell onto their beds. Ginger and Trinity, who had been playing cards at the time, looked at them strangely. Trinity stood up and put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes, taking on a look rather like that of Snape's. "Why the hell did you just come charging in here breaking the peace? And where have you BEEN for all this time?" Sierra and Iseult stopped giggling and looked at Trinity with expressions of disbelief plastered on their faces. Sierra was just about to say something when Ginger put a comforting hand on Trinity's shoulder. "Look Trin, don't blame them. It's not their fault." She said softly. "Yeah, well if they just come in and take over Ezrai and Tainia's places then they can just piss the hell off." Shouted Trinity. Sierra glanced at Iseult and saw the shock on her face that was mirrored on her own. Ginger sighed, "Look Trin, they have no idea ok? They're not trying to intrude. Come on, let's go for a walk shall we?" She pushed Trinity gently out of the room. Trinity shot one last seething look at Iseult and Sierra before exiting in front of Ginger, who mouthed 'I'll explain later' after her. The door shut with a soft 'thud' and Sierra looked at Iseult, who had her mouth wide open. "Well, that was certainly unexpected wasn't it!" she said. "I wonder what bought that about?" "No idea, but I think it was something to do with someone called Ezrai and Tainia." "Do you know who they are?" asked Sierra. "No idea." Sierra was about to say something but she was interrupted by a grinning Alessandro entering. This was the perfect distraction for the girls, and they both promptly erupted into fits of giggles, along with Alessandro. Who had flung their dripping wet robes and uniforms at them.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
The lights out bell rung just as Alessandro was leaving. They had laughed for ages, reinacting parts of the scene down at the pool and imitating each other and the two guys. (They had stopped constantly referring to them as "those dick heads" now, but not for any reason other than "guys" was easier to say when you are rolling on the floor laughing. Sierra and Iseult changed hurriedly, and thank GOD, Sierra's pyjamas actually covered her stomach and thighs. Iseult's slightly frilly night robe looked like an antique, so she pulled a pair of muggle pyjamas out of her trunk. They were pale pink and covered in smiling cows. Thank God these are muggle-made, or I'd be mooing all night. Iseult smiled to herself. "In bed already?" asked Trinity snootily, as she and Ginger swept in the door. The girls crept between their linen sheets and ignored Trinity's haughty whispers behind them, which was intelligent as Prof. Byre, McGonagall's "second in command" thumped in a second later, wearing huge army boots that seemed to be iron-soled, they made such a loud noise. She was not a subtle person. She liked loud noises. In fact, Professor Byre's secret dream was to start up a magical fireworks factory in southern France.In the meantime she had to be content with shouting at excited kids. "GET INTO BED NOW! WHY ARE YOU NOT IN BED? I WILL SEND AN OWL TO YOUR PARENTS! DETENTIONS FOR ALL OF YOU" Then she slammed the door. She shouted the same thing at every door, whether they were dutifully asleep or partying on their beds. She just liked shouting, you see. Trinity and Ginge dutifully ignored her therefore, and took their time getting into bed.  
  
It was midnight. Iseult lay in the dark listening to the wind whistling through the stone buttresses, an unearthly sound alike to a woman wailing. She sat up abruptly and brushed aside the curtains of the bed to stand, arms crossed, by the window. Straining her eyes through the grey-blue half- light of a castle glowing with magic, she imagined snow-white, wisp-like shapes swirling in and out of the arched buttresses. Iseult's back prickled, and she swung around, not really expecting to see anything more than the quiet dorm room. Instead a pale wraithlike figure in a white dress was looking sadly over her shoulder. What. stammered Iseult, mouthing but not having the energy to speak the words. She expected one of the famous Hogwarts ghosts, but soon realised that the pale-faced, dark haired girl was a slightly groggy Trinity, who was gazing over Iseult's shoulder torpidly. "I." started Iseult hesitantly, gesturing vaguely at the window. But Trinity pointed back, at the solid buttresses supporting the base of the tower. "They are the ghosts." She whispered. A single tear trickled from each eye, down her cheek and into the hollow of her neck. Iseult stepped forward and gripped her icy-cold hand with the finger extended in the direction of Iseult's imaginary spirits. Trinity pulled away and staggered towards the window. A soft, low cry emitted from her lungs, echoing in Iseult's ears. Suddenly a figure from behind Iseult leapt forward and grabbed Trinity's arm, just in time to catch her as she fainted and collapsed. As the person turned and flipped her hair, Iseult saw a hint of auburn hair, and instantly recognised Sierra, who was now dragging Trinity across the floor. Iseult helped lift her back into her bed. Because although conscious again, Trinity was beyond walking. She tucked herself into bed though, leaving Iseult to shrug away Sierra's questions and clamber into her own bed.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: coming up next chapter; Ok, its called "The First Dance." Nuff said. 


	2. The First Dance

AUTHORS NOTE: heh, chapter two. Are you honestly STILL reading this? Wow. Parental Guidance Recommended. we swear a lot. And nither uv uz cn spel for peanuts. Just a warnin to y'all. Review please, flames will be used to torture our teacher. mwar har har.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
A grinning Alessandro greeted the girls at the breakfast table down in the great hall, where they recounted Trinity's strangeness the previous night. He was more or less indifferent. "Yeah, Trins pretty crazy. She has lots of weird ideas. Brilliant Quidditch player though. Great with a quaffle." He gulped down a glass of pumpkin juice. "So who are Ezrai and Tania?" Sierra was questioning Aless to the point of interrogation. He was about to open his mouth when Iseult squealed "Yay! Porridge!" and ladled a ton of hot porridge into her bowl, before drizzling it with milk and brown sugar. Nonplussed, Aless continued, "The two girls that you're replacing. I didn't even know it was them who had gone. Ezralia's twin brother's left too, I presume the family's moved." Iseult had finished her porridge and now looked disappointedly at her empty bowl. She saw a rack of toast near Aless, and reached over him to grab a piece. "You have amazing metabolism, did you know that?" Aless watched her chew her honey-drenched toast delicately. "I know. And exquisite table manners." She grinned. "And I'm just so modest!" A sudden thump from the head table silenced them. Professor Albus Dumbledore, apparently still chewing, stood up and boomed out, amazingly for a man of his age and apparent frailty, "Tonight, students, as you will all be aware of, at precisely 6'O One, is the Third year to Fifth year.dance." Sierra, rather too loudly, remarked, "It is?" in a slightly horrified fashion, looking sideways at Sirius, who was beaming at her mischievously. Iseult's mind had left her breakfast and was now settling firmly on one thing. That thing was: HOLYSHITWATAMIGOINGTOWEARIDONTHAVEBLOODYDRESSROBES. Dumbledore apparently noticed some of the new student's distress, as he happily added, "This year I have decided we will break with tradition and wear our casual, normal clothes! No dress robes necessarily!" This comment brightened the student's faces but the teachers looked very disappointed and solemn. The headmaster ignored this. "As you will also have noticed by now, Today is a SATURDAY, and therefore you have today and tomorrow off so that you can organize yourself for school. Although we don't actually expect you to do that of course." Dumbledore grinned, and dismissed the students from the great hall, which was canopied with a smiling sky.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Dear god this was boring. Sierra usually loved dances and the type, but for some reason she just felt, well, out of it all. Iseult, Ginger and Sierra had spent most of the evening making each other over. It hadn't taken much to turn Ginger into somewhat of a goddess. She was wearing a sparkly green tank top and maroon pants that ended in a bootleg. Sierra would never have imagined these colours paired together, but somehow Ginger pulled it off. The green eye shadow went beautifully with her eyes and top, and her hair hung long down her back with a couple of silver clips in it. Iseult looked almost as gorgeous in an almost too- tight top printed in some Italian passage that Sierra couldn't read but was sure many guys would be happy to translate, and a slightly "puffy" white skirt wrapped in ribbons. Her slightly strawberry blonde hair was done up in a messy bun, with a few wisps of hair framing her face at the sides. She wasn't wearing much makeup except for some mascara that lengthened her eyelashes in a striking way, a bit of light pink sparkly lip-gloss and a touch of eye shadow. Trinity hadn't taken part in this make up fest, she had just grabbed a makeup bag from her trunk and gone to the bathroom, only talking to Ginger. A few minutes later she had returned. She was wearing heavy eyeliner and mascara, and a deep red shade of lipstick. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a kind of goth-chick way. All this Trinity had teamed up with a tiny black spaghetti-strap dress. When they had finally got into the Great Hall (ten minutes late, naturally) Ginger had gone off to her Hufflepuff boyfriend. So Sierra and Iseult giggled between themselves over who was wearing the most atrocious outfit. A 4th year with pink hair won, just in case you were wondering. Iseult had then gone to get them some drinks, when she was asked to dance by a Ravenclaw boy with deep gold hair. Which was why Sierra was standing with CJ and Steph. Steph nudged her and pointed over to where the male Gryffindor third years were standing. "Sirius Black is looking at you." She said excitedly. Sierra resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She just couldn't understand the kind of girls who just stood around all day gossiping over who liked who and whether they were an item or not. "Well actually," pointed out CJ "He's looking at her ass. He's been staring at it for the past five minutes." This time Sierra actually did roll her eyes. "Don't guys have anything better to do?" "No." said CJ blandly, "They spend their whole lives staring at girls. It's a proven fact that if every woman in the world walked around naked female's would rule the world." Sierra laughed, both at CJ's comments and the astounded look on Steph's face. "God, I would DIE to have Sirius Black stare at my ass like that." She said dreamily. "I don't know what you're complaining about personally. Him and that James Potter are the sexiest guys at Hogwarts by far." CJ rolled her eyes and ignored her sister. "Sierra, ignore Steph. Sirius Black has the worst reputation at Hogwarts. He's a complete tosser. He goes out with girls then dumps them the next week. Trust me, you're better off just ignoring the idiot." Steph was about to say something, but she was cut off by Iseult drifting back towards them. Steph was instantly distracted and started firing questions at Iseult about the boy from Ravenclaw.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
"That was Daniel Jones, wasn't it? The forth year you were dancing with?" "Well, I thought his name was David, actually." "Was he nice? Why did you stop dancing with him?" "Oh, well." Iseult was being bombarded by questions from Steph about the boy she had just danced with. Sierra and CJ were standing smirking behind Iseult's assailant, apparently quite happy to leave Iseult helpless to Steph's questioning. "He was nice, not very interesting. He looked like he was a bit scared to talk. I don't know why." Steph sniggered obviously. Iseult stopped herself from blurting out 'What?' as it would just make Steph happier. Rolling her eyes, Steph put her hand on her hip. "I know why he was scared." Steph rolled the 'I'. Is it even possible to roll your 'I's? Maybe it was a talent that came from being absolutely and utterly boy mad. CJ decided that it was time to save Iseult from Steph. "Hey, look, the school band's starting! Why don't we head closer to the stage?" During the course of the day the prefects and gamekeeper had turned the area where the teachers usually sat into a makeshift stage. The four girls shuffled through the throng of people so that they were in the midst of a gaggle of students surrounding the curtained stage, Steph reluctantly because it took away her chance to blabber on about James Potter. As the music started to play, the sea of shuffling feet stilled, and they stopped to listen to the notes of a band.who did not write their own music, evidently. ".The heart is a bloom, Shoots up through the stony ground, There's no room, No space to rent in this town." Iseult, who had been listening to muggle radio stations playing U2 all summer holidays, groaned slightly. At least it's a good song. The initial awe of the soon music died down, and people started dancing again. Iseult, Sierra, CJ and Steph were about to go and get another drink when CJ hissed, "Dickheads, three O'clock!" Sierra and Iseult groaned and turned, thoroughly sick of playing cat and mouse with these boys. Steph licked her lips nervously. She had not given up her hopes yet. "Quick!" hissed Sierra. "Set me up with someone to dance with! Shit! Hurry up!!!" CJ grabbed Alessandro, who just happened to be the nearest guy, and flung him, flabbergasted into Sierra, who was thankful to have an excuse to be away from Sirius while Iseult was left helpless as James bounded up to her. Iseult looked to the ethereal ceiling in despair. Shit. Not him. Iseult's head burned as she screamed at anyone who happened to have ESP. I AM FRICKIN SICK OF THAT STUPID BOY I WISH HE WOULD LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Exasperated, Iseult muttered aloud in an undertone, unheard by all but Steph who was moping wishfully beside her. "Has he not realised yet that I don't care about him?" Steph's whole face lit up, and for a second Iseult felt genuinely sorry for her. "Really? You.you don't like him even the tiniest bit.?" she whispered as the being in question looked at Iseult sideways. "No.No. I don't. He is a chauvinist pig who.STEPH!" Iseult glared at Steph's back as she skipped over to force a confused James to dance with her. By now all Iseult's sympathy for Steph had flown out the window, and she was wishing that she hadn't left her wand in her bag as she strongly wanted to cast a sharp Ricktusempra curse between Steph's swaying shoulder blades. She ditched me! Ditched me for that hideous.annoying.bigoted. Iseult stormed off to the side of the room, where Sierra was watching Alessandro stuff his face with pies, sausage rolls and peach-flavoured pumpkin juice. Iseult sat down in a huff and started to wail. "Steph ditched me for." "James?" asked Sierra, putting her arm around her friend. "Who cares? If she wants to have anything to do with that jerk, then just let her." Iseult looked a bit miffed, but then nodded. "Right then, who wants to play find Iseult a dance partner?"  
  
Alessandro POV  
  
Could someone please remind me WHY I'm dancing with Sierra Rehine? Alessandro thought to himself conversationally. Sirius was going to kill him. Sirius was going to kill him and it would be long and painful. He shot an apologetic look at Sirius who was shooting daggers at him and Sierra. On any other occasion he would be more than happy to dance with any other girl wearing very low, very tight hipster jeans and a backless top which showed off more than ANY top should. In fact he would positively jump at the chance. But then again, any other girl wasn't Sierra. Who was a. his friend, and b. currently being chased after by Sirius Black. Alessandro really needed to stop getting himself into these situations. It was starting to make life extremely difficult. "Er, Sierra?" "Yeah?" Sierra was making sure that under no circumstances she was to make any eye-contact whatsoever with Sirius. This would have been highly amusing, had Sierra not been quite a good actress - especially in the field of flirting. (At least, Alessandro HOPED she was acting...) "I'm getting a bit," He paused, trying to think of a word that wasn't 'Scared' or 'About to be Murdered' "Hungry. Can we go over to the food table?" To Alessandro's delight the smallest hint of relief washed over Sierra. "Great idea Aless, I'm getting a bit peckish myself." The pair walked over to the food table and Alessandro began to completely stuff himself. After all, he had nothing better to do. Well, apart from being murdered by Sirius for dancing with the girl he was after. He didn't notice Iseult until Sierra had thumped him on the back, making him spit the custard tart he was eating onto the table. A group of second year Ravenclaw girls muttered 'Eeew!' and 'Gross!' but Sierra flipped them the finger and they scowled and moved on. Iseult was standing looking thoroughly pissed off about something. And to be honest, Alessandro (for his own safety) didn't want to know what it was. Sierra was looking around the hall, apparently searching for something. "CJ's over there." He pointed out. "I know that!" snapped Sierra "We're looking for guys." "Guys?" said Alessandro dumbly. Iseult rolled her eyes. "Yes, guys! Now do you know any guys who are not complete idiots and are vaguely good looking?" Oh god, thought Alessandro. There was really only one thing to do if he wanted to actually participate in the more physical activities of the year. He ran.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Sierra and Iseult watched Alessandro run off. "Stupid little..." Iseult began, but then stopped herself for lack of really insulting words. Sierra rolled her eyes. "Trust any guy who doesn't try to peer up your skirt when he has the chance. But WHY is he running?" "No idea." said Iseult, shaking her head "Maybe he just doesn't want to point out hot guys to us." Sierra nodded, that was probably it. "I'll bet those stupid pricks told him not to set us up with anyone" Iseult continued "They probably think its strange that we haven't 'fallen for their charms'" Sierra snorted. "What like Steph over there?" The girls looked over towards Steph who was brightly chatting up James Potter, he looked mildly interested - but was glancing round. Sierra thought he was probably looking for Iseult. She vaguely wondered where Sirius was when she realised Iseult had started talking again. Sorry, did I say talking? I mean ranting. Sierra interrupted her just as Iseult was beginning to get heated up. "Well if we're going to find some guys I strongly suggest we head for the dance floor. That's where the majority of the guys will be." Iseult thought for a moment, then nodded. "True. Come on, the band may suck but the songs are still good." The two girls headed back towards the mass of dancing bodies. Sierra began pointing out guys for Iseult, which was no small task. Iseult seemed to either have very high standards, or just wasn't interested in them. "What about him over there?" "Eew?! The one covered in pimples?" "No, dickwad. The one with the cargo pants." "Ugh, no way." "Why not?" "His lips are too big." "His LIPS are too big???" "Oh shut up!" "Alright, alright. Err, what about him?" "Guy in blue shirt?" "Yes!" "No!" "Why not! God you're a mission Iseult." said Sierra exasperatedly. If she wasn't mistaken Iseult looked the slightest bit smug about this. Suddenly Sierra spotted Snape not far off. She suppressed the urge to giggle and grabbed Iseult by the arm. "What about him?" She asked delightedly. "WHAT?! SNAPE?!" Iseult screeched a little too loudly, many nearby couples looked at her as if she had a possible mental disease. "Ssssh!" hissed Sierra "Keep it down why don't you?" Iseult shuddered. "You better not be serious" "Its ok," giggled Sierra "I'm not." "Good." The band moved onto a new song and Sierra listened to it closely, she recognised the tune vaguely. The band, it seemed, had taken to 'tweaking' many of the songs so that they were louder and thumpier. "A long, long time ago..." Dammit! What was that song? "I can still remember..." It sounds so familiar, "How that music used to make me smile..." The fact that it was quite slow and classical threw Sierra off completely. She could only think that it would pick up pace later. "And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance..." Lots of students had begun to sing the words loudly. "And maybe they'd be happy for a while..." Dammit, I've been listening to this song all holidays, what IS it? "But Febuary made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver..." She could recall Danielle and Tristan singing it, "Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step..." She definitely recognised the words now, "I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride..." Hold on a second, "But something touched me deep inside. The day, the music... died." Sierra repressed the urge to scream with delight. She had been listening to this song all holidays and couldn't deny that she had become supremely obsessed with it. The schools version was absolutely fantastic. It seemed Iseult loved the song also as she was singing the chorus at the top of her lungs "Bye, bye miss American Pie. Drove my Chevvy to the levy but the levy was dry, and them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye singing this will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die!" Iseult grinned at Sierra and grabbed the nearest boy (A tall Hufflepuff) just as the drums came in and the music started to speed up. Sierra decided to follow her example and turned around and grabbed the nearest guy, flinging her arms around him. She prided herself on being a good dancer, especially with American Pie. Fabulous song that. However she did get the feeling that Remus Lupin had never had such a shock in his life.  
  
Remus POV  
  
I am going to die today, die today, die today, I am going to die today because I danced with Sirius' girl...  
  
James POV.  
  
With his super-seeker-sense eyesight, out of the corner of his roving eye, James caught sight of a dusty-haired Remus trying to dash from the hall but instead being re-grabbed by a girl in jeans that were.REALLY tight! The girl James was dancing with, (Stella was it?) forcefully turned him around to bring his attention back to her. She was a pretty girl, nice enough, But, James thought, a tad wistfully, Iseult is. He was brought back to the present when his partner "accidentally" stepped on, no, stabbed his foot with her stiletto heels. Nah, James, your being an idiot. She fucking hates you! Trust, she fucking hates you. She tore your feelings like you had none, and ripped them away. His thoughts were being interrupted by a tune Steph was humming, so he racked his brains and tried to concentrate on organising his own thoughts, (while he was still sober, a state which would shortly deteriorate.) You could have almost any other girl in the bloody year, most of them like you anyway, so of course you have to fall for a girl who hates your guts. Same thing happened with Evans! But nooo, she had to go and run off with Snape.and now she's ditched him for Lucius Malfoy of all people! James scowled in the direction of the Slytherins as he recalled memories of his ex, Lily Evans, one of the many reasons that he and the rest of the gang hated Snape so much. And Snape went after Iseult on the train! God, Sirius and I had short of publicly declared that she and Sierra were off-limits, were ours. That jealous bastard. If frickin Bellatrix hadn't come in I would have blown his friggin head off!!!. "James! James! Are you alright?" Stephanie was shaking his shoulder vigorously. "You've gone all red!" James was sick of wailing girls. "Yeah, I think I might just go and.Throw up!" he said brightly, intending to do no such thing. Leaving his dance partner at a peak of disappointment, James sauntered off to find Padfoot. If he didn't approach Iseult soon then that Ravenclaw blonde would forget about his threats and dance with her again.  
  
Remus POV.  
  
Must.Get.Away. Remus struggled away from Sierra, and then made a run for it, out one of the huge doors into the cool night air. As he ran, he heard his former dance partner mutter behind him, "Great. Two guys run from me in one day? I am gonna murder Sirius Black."  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
After 'American Pie' and Remus's escape, Iseult followed Sierra over to the side of the hall, by a door leading out onto one of the huge balconies, where CJ and Steph were waving at them. Steph managed a sharp "Hi" when Sierra arrived, in between her wailing and ranting on various topics, most being on James Potter. Subsequently, she completely ignored Iseult. God, I'm fed up with her. "She can have the stupid guy I don't care." Iseult realised too late that she had spoken aloud, but shrugged and added, "Is there a way you can stop James from liking me? Because its sorta inhibiting me on the boy territory." Steph groaned. "Well how do you do it?" "Hey, its not like I'm encouraging him!" "Come on, you must have done something to make him like you?" "Get it into your head, Steph, she hasn't done nothing. Maybe she's just prettier than you?" "Oh shut up CJ! That's horrible and completely untrue!" Iseult huffed and frowned at CJ modestly. Steph ruffled her shoulders appreciatively as Iseult continued, in a most tragic and exaggeratedly "English" manner, "The more I hate him, the more he follows me!" Sierra spluttered into her pumpkin juice and butted in, laughing, "The more I love, the more he hates me!" (At this point CJ and Steph were looking from Iseult to Sierra, Iseult to Sierra, quite worried, and even more so as Iseult continued, "His folly, Hele- I mean Steph, is no fault of mine." And even more worried as Sierra made a wistful fainting action with her hand on her forehead and cried, "None but your beauty; would that fault were mine!" The two girls burst into hysterics, leaning over each other's shoulders to support their laughter. Steph chewed her thumb. Would James like her if Iseult went mad? CJ hit her two friends over their heads affectionately. "You little Shakespeare geeks!" The three more educated out of the four girls giggled at the utter sadness of the fact that Iseult knew the play well enough to quote it at the right moment, while Steph stood, hand on hips, quite frustrated and wishing that they would stop acting like such idiots and get back to the current crisis - JAMES! Her prayer was answered when CJ's laughing face straightened slightly and she stood up. "I think that the good old bard has given us a solution, girls." "A solution about James?" Steph said offhandedly, as if she had been thinking about anything else. "Yeah. You know," she paused, trying to think of a way to put it without hurting anyone's feelings. "Sierra and Iseult, and probably Lily Evans... And me of course," she added hurriedly, "are the only girls I can think of who haven't been victim to Sirius and James's "irresistible" charms." (CJ made the bunny ears sign around irresistible.) "Well, not publicly anyway." She added, thinking of Lily. "So, naturally, in a typical male 'Wants what he can't have' scenario, who are the girls that James and Sirius have made the most fuss about, and who have they chased after insistently, despite embarrassment and common sense?" A cold, harsh wave of realisation hit the girls. "Like Apollo to Daphne." whispered Iseult in the softest tone of voice. "So, you're saying." started Sierra, "That if we pretend we like them." "They'll leave you alone." Nodded CJ, who felt very wise at present. "Think you could handle being nice to the dickheads until they get over you?" Iseult jumped at the chance to have that presuming, arrogant.sweet in an annoying way.dickhead off her back! "Hey, I'm game! Sierra might have some trouble keeping her fist under control though!" Everybody laughed as Sierra poked out her tounge at Iseult and mimed punching her nose. Iseult laughed and glanced at the giggling girl next to her. The golden smile on Steph's face as she thought of James, made it all worthwhile.  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Sierra stood slightly inside the door, along with Iseult, who was pulling her top down in a nervous manner. Sierra vaguely wondered wether she really was wise in choosing a backless top for wearing that night. It was kind of cold. Iseult sighed melodramatically. "You would think that by now they'd get the picture that we are standing here waiting for them." "I dunno," replied Sierra thoughtfully "They could have taken the hint." Iseult snorted "Yeah right," "I'll admit you're right there Iseult. Those dick heads are too dumb to..." "You wouldn't be talking about us now would you Sierra?" came a voice from behind her. Stuck up little... Sierra turned around and smiled at Sirius, looking up at him from under her eyelashes. "I might be," she said teasingly "Then again I might not..." Sirius glanced nervously at James, he was quite shocked that Sierra was actually talking, no, flirting with him. "Well actually," said Iseult matter-of-factly "We were just saying how we really fancied having a dance with someone. We were jsut wondering who we should dance with." Sierra struggled not to grin as Iseult pretended to wonder. James grinned widely at her. "I'll dance with you if you want." "Oh would you?" said Iseult soppily. Now Sierra was struggling not to giggle, this was getting funner by the second. "That would be absolutely fabulous!" Iseult continued, batting her eyelashes at James, who was being thoroughly sucked in by Iseults theatrics. James offered his arm and Iseult took it, winking at Sierra as she walked past. She looked at Sirius who was beaming at her hopefully, and decided to have just a little bit of fun. "Do you know where Remus is?" she said, on the verge of laughter "If Iseult is dancing then i'm going to have a dance too." "No, I'm afraid I dont" liar, thought Sierra, you know perfectly well that he's standing over there, by the punch bowl "but I'll dance with you." He flashed her what he hoped was a winning smile and offered his arm, just as James had done. Sierra played with the thought of teasing him a bit more, and decided that there would be more than enough time to dance with him later. She was having too much fun at the moment. "Oh there he is!" Sierra said happily "Over there, by the punchbowl" Sirius' face visibly dropped, and Sierra felt slightly bad. But luckily she regained herself, think Steph, think Steph "Do you think he likes me?" she said wistfully, trying to imitate how Steph was when talking about James (or any guy for that matter). "I don't really know if I'm getting the right signals you know?" Sirius didn't look like he really cared about what kind of signals she was getting from Remus, so Sierra carried on. Twirling a strand of hair around her finger just as Steph did. "You're good friends with him, what does he really like in a girl?" As if sensing that they were talking about him, Remus turned round and looked at them. Sirius shot him a dark look and Sierra smiled flirtatiously and waved. Remus purposefully looked the other way. She mock-sighed and looked forlorn. "I guess he doesn't like me after all," she said sadly. "Oh well, I'll just have to find someone else." "Awww, it's ok Sierra." said Sirius eagerly, putting his hand around her waist. "Come on, you can dance with me. It'll make you feel better." "You think?" said Sierra in a despairing tone. Boys were so easy to win over. Shame they were so dimwitted. "Well, if you really think so..." Sirius wasted no time in leading her to the dance floor. Sierra noticed that his hand was pleasantly warm on her back... No! Don't think that you idiot! You're trying to lose him remember? By then they had come up to near Iseult and James, and, dear god was it true? Was Iseult actually enjoying it? Sierra decided that Iseult just liked dancing. After all, she had been a little more than outgoing with that Hufflepuff boy during 'American Pie'. That was just a great song, she wished they'd play it again. Snapping back to reality she put her arms around Sirius' neck (ignoring the jealous looks from the group of Ravenclaw girls that she'd given the finger to before), not quite touching his shoulder blades. She felt his hands rest on her hips, just above the waistband of her jeans and began to feel slightly self-conscious. She mentally slapped herself. Stop it you idiot! You're becoming just as bad as Steph, a complete boy-shadow! Well, actually she could see what Steph had been going on about before; he was quite nice looki... SHUT UP! SHUT UP! DAMMIT SIERRA YOU DICK YOU'RE TRYING TO GET RID OF THE ASSHOLE. Well, it wasn't her fault he was a good dancer. Scratch that, he was a really good dancer. Sierra glanced at Iseult and got a slight shock. WHY she thought IS ISEULT'S HEAD RESTING ON JAMES POTTER'S SHOULDER??? She resisted the urge to give Iseult a kick, as she was quite sure Sirius would notice it. Seeing as, hold on, was it just her - or was Sirius a few inches closer than when she had last noticed. They were so close that she could almost feel his breath on her neck. But what really worried her most, was the fact that she was, well, enjoying it. She really needed to get a grip. Fast.  
  
Alessandro POV  
  
For the past ten minutes, Alessandro had been hiding behind a well-placed statue. Thinking it was safe, he crept out and inched over to the punch- bowl. Where Remus Lupin was nervously glancing around him. He felt for his dorm-mate. He knew exactly what he was feeling. "So who are you hiding from?" Remus jumped, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was Alessandro.  
  
"Err, Sierra Rehine." "Sierra?" said Alessandro, startled "Yeah, she sort of grabbed me during the 'American Pie' song. Saw you hiding behind the statue. Why?" "I was, also, hiding from Sierra." Alessandro felt slightly sorry for her. After all, two guys had blown her off already. "Oh, right." said Remus, also feeling slightly sorry for her. "Where is she now." Alessandro shrugged. "I have no idea, I think she went outside to CJ and Iseult." "Oh ok then, well I'll just... Stay here."  
  
"Ok." Alessandro went towards the door he had last seen CJ exiting from. CJ was a nice girl, she was quite pretty and really nice. Steph would be too, had she not been so... loose, around most of the guys their age. Well, she wasn't that bad really. Just a little eager. But CJ was nice. Yes, Alessandro decided, CJ was definitely nice.  
  
James POV.  
  
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD  
  
She's dancing with me!!!!! Eeeeh!!!! That's good!!!! James was too happy to think about why Iseult, who had plainly hated his guts only moments before, was now very.enthusiastic about dancing with him. But then, he was a boy. And boys are intellectually challenged when it comes to girls.  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Iseult had the faintest idea that CJ's idea was WRONG. Dangerously wrong. Now James thought that he liked her. And she didn't. At all. Not even just the tiniest.little.bit. Ok, maybe just the tiniest.little.bit. Shut up, Iseult said to the voice in her head, which was laughing at her in hysterics.  
  
Hehehehehe.  
  
"Shut UP!" she whispered aloud angrily. Her partner looked at her strangely. "Is there something wrong? .Did I do anything?" James blurted out. After seeing Sirius roll his eyes behind Iseult's back, James cooled down a bit. His main aim in life was to achieve the look of Sirius's serene, don't- give-a-shit attitude. James knew that in private Sirius fidgeted and worried like hell, but in public, especially around girls, he was practically the Prince of Calm. James usually achieved this outward mode as well, except sometimes he.forgot. It didn't come naturally to him. Iseult mumbled, "No, Nothing," and drifted off into her own imaginings. Head rested on James's shoulder, they were comfortably dancing a short distance apart, until James slowly gripped her hip and pulled her slightly closer. Every time he did this Iseult felt slightly more uncomfortable, until finally her head was screaming with a conscientious cry of "Why are you doing this!" and she shivered. Why am I doing this? Sure I like him a little bit but. I don't exactly feel comfortable, do I? Was it fair to get all pissed off at him like that? I mean, he's not really that bad tonight, and he didn't do anything to me reaaally. Except presume. And scare off all these other guys. And beat up Snape for no reason. I wonder if there is a way to pretend I like him, without anyone realising that I really do like him. Hmmm.  
  
Shit! What on Earth is he doing?  
  
Iseult looked around for help. James was getting a little too physical, probably thanks to Sirius and Pettigrew's miming (of god-knows-what) behind Iseult's back. Iseult looked around for help. Sierra - Sirius was obviously being careful that the two girls couldn't communicate, as he had danced her away nearer to the stage, so she was obviously no help. Alessandro was chatting CJ up in the corner. Good on him. Iseult thought. However, as nice as this was, It was absolutely no help to the slightly stranded Iseult. She could have easily said, "Hey do you want to dance fast for this one?" but that was not the point. She wanted to get away. Gazing around urgently, she caught sight of a wistful Steph staring at her longingly. Poor Thing.Click! Iseult clicked and made the tiniest evil smile, as she beckoned to Steph over James's carved shoulder. Evidently her partner noticed, as James pulled her away from him and looked at her face suddenly. Iseult's sleek smile disappeared hurriedly, but he looked over his shoulder anyway, in time to see a bright, cheerful Steph bounding up behind him. James gripped Iseult's hips tighter, but she slipped away and veritably pushed James into a beaming Steph. Iseult tiptoed off to where she had seen Aless and CJ last, but they were either off dancing somewhere, or had found a little corner of their own. Although McGonagall had announced that morning that there was to be "No public proof of private passion" to be displayed, many couples had completely ignored this, and taken advantage of Hogwart's many passages and broom cupboards. Iseult grabbed a glass of spiced currant juice and drifted out through the doors onto one of the balconies. A gentle wind swirled around the stone banisters, making leaves spiral and flinging them away from the castle, an island of luminosity in the night. Leaning over the balcony and looking down at the stone buttresses again, she almost imagined that she saw Trinity's ghosts again, but then a hand tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around. A tall boy with chiselled features was silhouetted against the brightness of the window. "Would you like some more drink?" he said very softly, reaching out for her now empty glass. Iseult handed it to him, and tried to distinguish who he was, but he was just a black shadow. "You looked like a ghost out here by yourself. Not that that would be unusual, Nearly Headless Nick has been moping about the stage all evening." Iseult was a bit shocked. She hadn't prompted this conversation, had she? "Aren't you finding it cold? I'm bloody frozen!" Said the mysterious stranger as he poured himself a drink. "Oh, Yes, but it's too hot inside. My feet are icy cold!" He laughed, looking down at her shoes, which were the same ones she wore on the beach in Italy. Iseult sipped her drink and thought quietly. A howl echoed from the forbidden forest. "Hey, do you want to." Iseult turned around, but stopped in mid-sentence. The boy was gone. The best thing that had happened to her all night had disappeared and she didn't know his name. One thing was certain. She could forget about James.  
  
Sierra was standing by the drinks table with the rest of the crew. Alessandro had his arm curled firmly around CJ's middle, as if she would take a leaf out of Sierra's book and run for it. They were the most gorgeous couple, and complemented each other beautifully. Iseult couldn't help feeling jealous of CJ, with tall, blond Aless standing protectively by her side. Why are all the guys that like me complete pricks? Iseult wondered crossly. She sidled over next to Sierra, who was also gazing at the happy pair warmly. "So what happened to Sirius?" she asked casually, not having to pretend she wasn't interested any more. "He ran off about 20 minutes ago. Steph said you ditched him and graciously gave him to her?" "Yeah," Iseult laughed, spluttering into her drink. "You could put it like that. How did they get on?" "He got sick of her, surprise surprise!" Muttered Sierra into her hand so that CJ wouldn't see. "She didn't seem to annoyed though. Steph's new official object of desire is." "Don't tell me." Groaned Iseult, expecting it to be Alessandro like everyone else. "David Jones! In don't think she's forgotten about James though." Iseult laughed. Poor Steph. The dance ended all too soon. Without Sirius, James and their band being seen again, the crew of Gryffindors headed up to their Dorms, Alessandro rather reluctantly as he wanted to go across to the Ravenclaw one instead. Iseult hurridly wiped off her mascara, pulled on her pyjamas, and slipped into bed. Through the window, she could see a beautiful, white, Full Moon.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Hey don't look at me like that! I didn't write the ending. It was sophie, I swear. Little drama queen. 


	3. The Azkaban Winds

AUTHORS NOTE: Neither of us have any excuses about why this chapter is so short. Our plot bunnies were hit with the plague. Read and Review, you know the deal. Me and Sophie don't own anything, and we won't until we successfully convince JK Rowling to admit it was indeed US who wrote the Harry Potter books. Flames will be used to kidnap that sexy elf of LOTR. You know who we mean ;-).  
  
Sierra POV  
  
Sierra, Ginger, Alessandro and Iseult were sitting comfortably in the common room the next afternoon while James gazed longingly at them from an armchair appropriately distanced from the group. Iseult and Alessandro were playing possibly their seventh consecutive game of wizards chess (Alessandro was determined to win), Sierra was reading a book about song charms and Ginger was reading a quiz in one of those trashy muggle-teen magazines called 'Skip'. Every now and then she would call out one of the more amusing questions for the others to answer. "Ok, here's one. 'Would you feel strange dating someone with the same name as a family member?'" "I would definitely feel strange dating someone called 'Dad'" said Iseult "Check, by the way." "Argh! I don't have any moves!" "Move your bishop," pointed out Sierra. "That puts you in check with Iseult." "Bugger." Said Iseult absently. "Ok, you guys 'Have you ever been drunk?' Well? Have any of you been drunk?" "No," said Iseult "Yes," said Sierra Everyone turned and stared at Sierra. "Are you serious?" said Alessandro "Yes," said Sierra calmly "I got drunk at Justin's 18th. He seemed to think it was funny to get me absolutely pissed." "Exactly how drunk did you get Sierra?" said Iseult, highly amused. She couldn't really imagine Sierra drunk. "Very. I do believe I puked on Justin though. Danielle was pleased. She was so angry with him." she was cut off by a voice behind her. "I don't believe this, Sierra Rehine has been drunk?" Iseult rolled her eyes, "It's not that hard to believe. Some people can actually have manners even when intoxicated." From the look on James' face he didn't know what intoxicated meant. "It means drunk." Sierra pointed out "Oh," said James "I knew that." "No you didn't!" laughed Ginger. "You looked so lost! Admit it, you had no idea what the hell Iseult was going on about." "No. You can't make me." said James defiantly, reminding Sierra intensely of Justin. "You're right we can't," said Iseult. "But we can ignore you." She turned back to Alessandro. "Checkmate" "No," said Sierra "He can still move diagonally." "Yay!" said Alessandro happily." "Checkmate." Repeated Iseult, moving again. Alessandro looked to Sierra for help, she shrugged. "Nothing you can do. She's got you backed into the corner." "Dammit!" said Alessandro "Re-match! I demand a re-match!" Ginger sighed, "That'll be what? The seventh re-match you've had Aless?" "Eighth." Said Sierra vaguely; she had begun to read her book again. She felt someone look over her shoulder. Turning around she smacked into the face that had been peering over her shoulder. "Ouch! That hurt!" "Serves you right!" said Sierra, rubbing her cheek "Shouldn't have been there in the first place." Sirius sat down beside her. She shuffled along a bit so they were farther away. He looked momentarily hurt but covered it up. "So what's happening over here anyway James?" he said brightly "Sierra was just telling us how she got drunk at someone called Justin's 18th birthday party." Said James, equally as brightly. Iseult sighed loudly. "Sierra was not telling you anything. So just piss off." "Who's Justin?" Sirius interrupted loudly. "Wouldn't you like to know." Said Sierra, winking at him. Ginger tried to hold back a laugh, it wasn't much trouble seeing as she was quite a good actress. "Justin is Sierra's 19 year old fiancée." "Really!?" said James excitedly. "You're kidding right?" said Sirius worriedly Sierra rolled her eyes. "Yes! She's kidding. God you're gullible." "Am not!" said Sirius and James together "You are" pointed out Iseult, "You believed Ginger for a moment there." "Only for a moment," Sirius pouted, he then turned to Sierra and grinned "So how are you this fine day." "Just fine." Said Sierra. "Now if you'll excuse us." She turned back to her book and started reading again. Iseult and Alessandro were already well into their eighth game, and Ginger was scanning the quiz for more questions. "If you had any other name in the world, what would it be?" "James." Said Sirius immediately. "Sirius, then maybe the teachers would think I'm serious for once." Sierra couldn't help but giggle. Iseult rolled her eyes. "What about you Ginger?" "I'd honestly prefer any name apart from the one I have now. I mean, come on. A red-head called Ginger? That's like calling a cat 'Mouse'." "I know someone who called their cat mouse," said Alessandro vaguely, pondering what to move next "Her name was Elisabeth." "That's nice to know." Said James, rolling his eyes. "But why did your parents call you Ginger in the first place then?" "Well, you see, it wasn't exactly obvious that I was going to have red hair. I was bald as a baby and absolutely none of my family members have red hair. Oh, and my grandma gave me this bothersome name." She made a face and poked her tongue out. Everyone laughed. "But what I don't see, is how I got this hair in the first place," continued Ginger "I mean, everyone goes on about how I have my mother's eyes, my fathers nose, my grandma's chin, yadda yadda yadda." "I've got my fathers hair!" James interrupted brightly. Sirius whacked him to get him to shut up. It worked. Sierra snorted. Sirius grinned at making Sierra laugh. Iseult rolled her eyes and chucked a pawn at Sierra. Alessandro commented vaguely, "Elisabeth was really nice. She was kind of a family friend." "Have you been listening at all Alessandro?" said Ginger exasperatedly. "What?" said Alessandro. "Oh never mind!" said Iseult rolling her eyes. Ginger had gone back to the quiz. "'Do you have a nick name?'" "Yes," said Sierra, Alessandro, Sirius and James "No," said Iseult "What's your nickname Alessandro?" asked Sierra "Aless, you knew that already. Yours?" "Justin, Tristan and Danielle usually call me Si. But I'm often called 'Bitch' or 'Hoe'." Everyone laughed. "What about you two?" Sierra continued looking at James and Sirius. They looked at each other proudly. "Well, Sirius is Padfoot, and I'm Prongs." Ginger looked at them in disbelief. "How the hell did you get those?" "Aaah, that's for us to know and you to, well, not." Said Sirius. "You're hiding something." Pointed out Iseult "No we're not." Said James innocently. Sierra sighed and picked up her books. She turned to leave then paused, "Just remember, I see things normal people don't." She turned and climbed up the stairs to the common room. Iseult followed her, when they got to the dorm Iseult looked at her strangely. "What did you mean when you said that you see things normal people don't?" Sierra grinned, "I was just trying to scare them. You have no idea how easily guys can be intimidated." Iseult smiled with relief. "Oh, that's ok then. For a moment I thought you were a." "Werewolf?" "Or something like that." She said shrugging "Don't know why really, it was full moon last night and from what I can tell you were in your bed all night and I have a feeling I would have noticed if an out of control monster was on the bed next to me." Sierra giggled. "No, I'm not a werewolf. But I have something very similar." Iseult stared at her in astonishment. "Like what?" Sierra giggled. "It's very much the same thing, you know. once a month I turn into an evil monster and woe betide anyone who tries to cross my path." If it was at all poss1ible Iseult looked more astonished. Sierra continued, "Except, they tend to call it PMS." It took Iseult a couple of seconds to register (when she did you could practically hear the 'click!') before she collapsed onto her bed in giggles. "You idiot! You really had me scared for a second there!" "Sorry," Sierra said, grinning "I guess I'm just taking it out on you for all the times Justin's told me that there's a werewolf under my bed." Iseult looked at her incredulously. "Lets not go there shall we..."  
  
Iseult POV.  
  
Iseult lay awake on her bed. The grandfather clock in the entrance hallway, only barely audible from the tower, had just chimed twelve. She could see storm-flung rain out the window, making no sound on the stone-silenced slate roof. But the wind howled. Like a nervous siren, rising and falling in tone. It flew between the turrets of the castle, making it's presence known with a loud clatter as a slate fell from the girls' tower onto Sierra's windowsill. Not colours, but the noises of the bleak wind haunted the castle's inhabitants that night, as even those few who were still now asleep felt the cold of the icy northern storm seep through the castle stones, and they dreamt of nothing but a malevolent winter approaching the castle. High spirits nested by the festivities of the previous night disapperated into a chilling mist. Iseult, her ears full of screaming noise and head empty of anything but shadow, had never felt so cold, so worthless and so very unloved in her life. As a figure stepped into her line of vision, arm outstretched, the only thought in Iseult's head was, "I mustn't scream. Its only death." "Iseult? Iseult get up!" said death. That's not death. "Come on, McGonagall's downstairs."  
  
That's.  
  
"Trin!" Iseult cried, blinking her eyes to make them confirm what she heard. Trinity smiled nervously. "Come on!" Iseult sat up slowly, slothfully. At the bed next to her Ginger was shaking Sierra awake. "I'm alive." Sierra groaned as Ginger hauled her into sitting position. Outside the wind echoed her, persistently thrashing rain against the window every few moments. The chilled sensation in Iseult's gut, which had slowly started to thaw when Trinity had arrived, returned with new gusto. "Grab something warm." Ginger ran her fingers through her bed-messed hair and glanced anxiously at the dark, wet window. She and Trinity glanced at each other, and shared a look of uneasiness. Iseult looked at them for a moment, still too dazed from tiredness to comprehend much except for the overwhelming cold. Slipping a robe on, she turned to see two shapes, each holding a lantern, stepping in the door. Ginger hurried up to meet them, and as they stepped inside, each holding a lantern high, Iseult saw the drained faces of Sirius and Alessandro. She tried to smile, but couldn't. "Yeah, its from the North." Sirius whispered to Ginger, flashing sideways glances at Sierra. His voice was full of concern, but his eyes lacked feeling. They reminded Iseult of hollow stones. "She's OK," Ginger remarked hurriedly, meaning Sierra. "Does McGonagall want us?" "Yeah, now. She's got chocolate, and the fire's warming up." Ginger sighed in relief and wondered why Ginger would look so grateful for chocolate, unless.Dementors? Ginger and Alessandro were now conversing quickly, and Iseult heard Sierra and her names mentioned more than once. "They've never been in this before. "It wasn't as bad as this last time." Iseult, who was starting to collect herself, interrupted loudly, "Are there Dementors? Here, I mean?" Ginger just sighed. "Yeah. You could say that." Sirius, who had been helping Trinity wake up the shaken Sierra, left his charge and beckoned Iseult over to the window, with a dismissing wave at the others who put out their hands to stop him. "She can cope." He waited until Iseult was beside him at the windowsill, and whispered sadly in her ear. "Listen to the wind. Listen real carefully." Iseult had been listening to the wind all night, but she put her hand to the glass of the window and listened. Her ears absorbed and interpreted the sound now that she was making an effort to listen, and what she heard. Only Sirius's carved hand on her back stopped her from collapsing. There were voices in the wind. Screams, Wails, Shrieks. A thousand pained voices from A thousand pairs of torn lungs poured their sorrows into her heart through the cruel wind. And every now and then, a different sound would pierce the fabric of this sorrowful cry. A low whoop, a cross between the cry of a seagull and the bark of a dog, mixed with a harsh sucking sound. Iseult fell back, but Sirius had been inspecting it, and caught her before laying her down on the wide windowsill.  
  
"Death." Iseult whispered aloud, but Sirius shook her shoulders, preventing her from lapsing backwards into another trance-like dream. He slapped her face slightly, bringing colour back into her cheeks.  
  
"No, Iseult, it isn't.Can you hear me Iseult?" "Mmm."  
  
"Its not, is it? Its just.just." "Fear." she whispered. "Yes." He said, relieved. (James would have no reason to throttle him after all.) Sirius sighed sadly and brushed the messed hair out of Iseult's eyes. "That was the wind of Azkaban, Iseult."  
  
After a team effort to bundle up Sierra, who was now fully awake and trying to tell everyone they were being silly, that she had just had a bad dream, the pack of Gryffindors hurried downstairs to the common room, where Professor McGonagall and the prefects were trying to control the wailing first-years, apparently by giving them chocolate, which helped enormously. Everyone over second year seemed much calmer, and Alessandro explained that the same thing had happened last year. "What is going on?" Sierra demanded, obviously more shaken than she was admitting to be, as she looked around nervously in the direction of the windows. Professor McGonagall, as if in answer, rapped her knuckles on a table, and the girls drifted over to the group of students in their pyjamas who were gathering around their head of house hesitantly. "Now, Gryffindors. Most of you, even those who were here last time something like this happened, will not have been told.what is happening." The teacher's face, usually stern and barely lined, was tonight aged, and she looked like an old woman. "The truth is, for some unknown reason, one which the headmaster is very busy trying to discover, the summer storms, natural at this time of year, have come directly from the prison of Azkaban, and the headmaster believes that the unusual effects that most of you will be feeling, are related to the inhabitants, both jailed and jailers, of the prison." A deep sigh of "Ohh." echoed around the hall. McGonagall continued, "Apart from feeling very fond of leading a law-abiding life, most of you will not be feeling up to working tomorrow. Therefore, the headmaster has declared that classes will not start until Tuesday, with a day of Rest tomorrow, especially for yourselves, as, being high up, Gryffindor tower seemed to have got the worst effects of.The Azkaban Wind." Silence followed. Everyone was too miserable or occupied with someone who was too miserable, to show great enthusiasm. "I think, that it may be best if you all go off to bed now and.ignore the wind? I'm sure that it will be dying down now." Groaning reverberated around the room. Beside Iseult, Sierra huffed and sank down to the floor. In vain, Iseult tried to cheer her up. "At least we're off again tomorrow. Sierra? Sierra?" Sierra had slumped herself on the floor, half asleep. Iseult tossed her hair angrily and restrained herself from kicking Sierra's dormant arse. To break her back dragging Sierra up a flight of stairs was about the last thing she needed, after having just been told that criminals and their unearthly guards, the infamous Dementors, she suspected, (who every wizard child would have grown up having nightmares about) were embodied in the wind sweeping around her castle. Now that she was away from the wide windows of the dormitory she was comforted a little. All together, she was a tad.no, more than a tad, pissed off by everything that was happening, and decided to do something that would piss off Sierra if she knew. "Oh, Sirius!" Iseult called in an extremely 'helpless' manner. Despite having seen Iseult in her least helpless of moods, Sirius strolled over happily, apparently leaving James and Remus in a heated argument with McGonagall. "Yeeas?" asked Sirius casually, almost stepping on Sierra's head as he walked over. Apparently the wind, apart from shaking him up, had made him 'forget' to be his normal, swaggering self around girls. "Will you carry Sierra up to her bed, please? I'm really tired and just can't manage at the moment. Would you do that.for Sierra?" Iseult almost made herself puke at how sickly sweet her voice sounded. The things she did to get rid of these guys! CJ's theory didn't seem to be working, by the way, as Sirius looked like all his Christmases had come at once. Very gracefully, he picked Sierra up and carried her in his arms up towards the girl's staircase.  
  
Maybe I ought to go up with them? Just to make sure that.  
  
Suddenly, a loud crash and shout was heard from the bottom of the staircase.  
  
Oh dear. Too late. Poor Sirius.  
  
Iseult heard a familiar voice booming out her (slightly unjustified) anger on Sirius. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" "well.." started Sirius, Sierra's chosen target for her wroth. "PUT ME DOWN!" (clunk) (slap) "Ow! Sierra!" Everybody in the room was listening now, even McGonagall, who looked fairly smug, obviously happy that Sirius was finally getting bitch-slapped. Iseult could just imagine what half of Gryffindor would be taunting Sirius about for the rest of the week- "Shame, Sirius! Beaten up by a GIRL!" Another series of clunks came as Sierra stomped towards Iseult in combat boots. Sirius's combat boots. Iseult looked down at them blankly. "My feet were cold." Said Sierra, by way of explanation. "Do you want to head back up to bed? I'm bloody tired and James just told me that the wind's pretty much died down. "Sure.When did you start talking to James?" Sierra shrugged. "When did you start talking to Sirius?" They both swept up the stairs, Iseult casting an apologetic look at Sirius, who was hunched in an armchair nearby, twirling a drink and ignoring the surrounding boys waiting until Sierra left so that they could torment him. Ginger and Trin had been in bed for a few minutes, so Iseult hastily climbed into hers and blew out her bedside lamp. She lay awake for the second time this night, but this time, in guilty thought. I hope Sierra really means she doesn't like Sirius.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: If you're at all confused about that last line that Soph wrote. you're not alone. I don't know either. God knows what little plot she has hidden away in that evil head of hers. We're still writing the next chapter so be patient. Review and please tell me what the hell you think Soph meant by it! 


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